Breaking the Rules
by Jazz the Wolf Demon
Summary: AU--(Completed!)Kagome is THE one to go to for advice on love, except that she has virtually no love life of her own--until a drunken blind date lands her married to a sexy doctor named Inuyasha and in a mess of trouble
1. Chapter 1: The Blind Date From Hell

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A/N: Okay, here is a new mini series I've begun working on. This story is a planned eight-chapter series, no more, no less. I was inspired while watching TV with my parents on Sunday, when they started arguing over the puzzle in the back of the TV Guide. I romantically sigh and wish to one day find a man I can argue with. Therefore, my freakish mind started whirling and I came up with a horribly romantic, funny little story. I think I'm going to do that writing device where the main character will do a little dialogue before the rest of the story--I always thought that was cool. (By the by, thanks to my Beta--Cattykit--for getting this first chapter revised and back to me in a few hours. You are the best!)

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Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or anything remotely that good. Instead, I only use them to fit my means and cackle about it late at night, when I'm dancing alone in my room.

Breaking The Rules

_Chapter 1: The Blind Date From Hell_

~~Kagome's POV~~~

I think Ishould begin this little montage by saying that I had the perfect life. 

Okay, maybe it wasn't_ the _perfect life, but it was _a_ perfect life. I had a great job, a great apartment, made good money, had a great relationship with my family and a bunch of caring, well-meaning friends. So maybe I wasn't in love. I was without a boyfriend, husband, or fiancée, but I was happy with my life. That was when life did that weird little thing it did at times. It changed.

Now, I'm not saying all change is bad, but it would be unfair and untrue to say that change was all good. My mother would say, in the calming words of wisdom way that she has, that change is both good and bad. Change in itself is nothing, simply an energy or an action that sets things in motion. It's those things that come after that makes it good or bad. 

Now, my situation might be seen as unique, considering I'm not the kind of woman who lets herself get in predicaments. If you had asked me then, I would have said that I lived my life on the edge, but really my idea of adventure was whether or not I would go to a movie for full price on a Sunday. It was hard to see past my routine, hard to see past my life of designer labels and famous articles.

Being one of the most famous advice column writers on the East coast had its up sides, let me tell you, but it also had draw backs. Especially the fact that I had a next-to-nothing love life. For a woman who told other women the rules on love, they'd all lynch me if they discovered how ineffective my love advice was for myself. Then again, maybe it was because of my disastrous love life that I ended up as I did.

______________________________________________________________________________

The huge plasma screen television flickered to life, a thousand colors blending the perfect picture for everyone in the room to watch. A symbol flashed on the screen as newsroom music began playing. Then a stylish and attractive woman in her mid-thirties appeared on the screen. With a professional, yet fake smile, she held a labeled microphone to her face and spoke.

"Good Morning, New York!" she greeted in a cheery, high pitched voice. "Welcome to The Street Beat. I'm Susan Dorian. Today, I'm staking out the streets asking women who they turn to when their men go astray."

The scene changed to see the reporter, Susan Dorian, standing with two college-aged young women. "Can you tell us who do you go to for advice on love?"

Both of the girls looked at each other with huge smiles before replying together, "Kagome Higurashi", like it was the most natural thing in the world.

When Susan went to a well-dressed woman in her late twenties and asked the same, she replied, "Love? Kagome Higurashi. Who else?"

Susan went up to a few other random women and all of them replied the same. "Well, it seems there is no contest," Susan said into the microphone at the end of her little segment. "Kagome Higurashi is the word on love for New York women."

There was a cut scene that took them from the street to a smart looking business office and/or talk show setting. Seated on one side of the room was Susan, her outfit and hair changed, still looking striking and smart, but now with an indoor look rather than that 'Street Beat' fanfare. 

Seated beside her was another woman, dressed in a designer business suit that did little to accent her curves, but gave her an intelligent look. Neat black hair was pinned back in a bun and a pair of black rimmed reading glasses sat on the bridge of her nose, in front of a bright pair of blue eyes. 

"Miss Kagome Higurashi, welcome to our studio," Susan said in her high pitch, flashing her fake smile at the screen, then at the woman beside her. Kagome smiled coolly in response, a humoring smile.

"Thank you for having me," she responded politely. Kagome shifted her position a little uncomfortably, crossing her legs and resting her arms over her lap, never losing her smile or dignified appearance. She looked a little out of place.

"Tell us Kagome," Susan said with an attempt at a subtle smile. "You have been dubbed New York's Voice of Love." They paused as the camera went over to Kagome. She laughed on cue, a little blush spreading across her neck. "How is your love life?"

Kagome laughed a little more and shifted again. "Oh, I knew that question would be asked," she said. "Well, I have to say that there hasn't been a man who has caught me yet, but I do my share of the single life."

"No commitments in your future?"

"Not that I see," Kagome replied with another smile. "I like living fancy free for the time being."

"I'm sure that your fans would feel much more secure in their own lives if they saw you settle down," Susan commented with a smile. 

Kagome's own was forced. "I'm sure they would," she replied. "But as my readers know, love is not on command."

"Right you are Kagome." Susan shifted to face the camera again. "When we return, Kagome Higurashi will be answering a few of your letters on the air for us today. Until I return, I'm Susan Dorian with the 'Street Beat'."

"And we're out," called a man on the set. Susan Dorian leapt from her chair, ripping the mic from her ear and stomping off toward her dressing room. Three studio workers trailed after her. Kagome got to her feet slowly, tugging on the end of her short skirt as she walked to where her two coworkers waited off camera.

"So how am I doing?" she asked when she joined them.

"You're doing good," Sango Rae told her. Sango, a tall and snappily dressed business woman, worked as a publicist for the magazine Kagome worked for. Her waist length dark hair was bound formally and she adjusted her red-rimmed reading glasses over violet eyes as she scanned over a few documents while sitting crossed-legged in Kagome's guest chair. "I think it will really help the magazine when this segment airs."

"It better," commented the other woman. Average height and build, one wouldn't normally take a second look at her, but the intense air of power and dignity demanded respect. Kagura Nitao, the founder and Editor of one of the most read women's magazine's on the East coast, stood with her arms crossed over her chest beside Sango, ruby eyes flashing. "This is valuable time out of her schedule here Sango."

"Yes, Kagura," the publicist replied, not looking up. "But just think of all the new readers you'll get when Kagome is on television."

"Because all our readers buy it because of me," Kagome replied sarcastically. She grabbed Sango by the arm and wrenched her out of the chair before settling in herself.

"Easy on the sarcasm, doll," Sango drawled.

"Well, whether or not you draw in new readers with this segment," Kagura said with a smile. "You've done me proud, Kagome."

Kagome smiled up at her boss. "Thanks Kagura." As an afterthought, she tugged on her skirt again. "I just wish I could have done an interview as myself..."

"We went over this," Sango said with a sympathetic frown. "We need you to look professional, not like you just fell out of bed, like you always do."

"Hey!" Kagome objected defensively. "It took a long time to perfect that look!"

Both her friends only smiled fondly as Kagome before they called her back to the set. That was just the way she was, Kagome Higurashi, a very unique person. If asked, one would never guess what she did for a living. Giving advice on love should have been the last thing in the world she should be doing, but women took comfort in her, and her writing was always superb.

And that was how she got her job in the first place. She was hired right out of college by Kagura when she started up her new age women's magazine _The Winds of Change_. No one predicted that it would last, and no one could have predicted what a response to be had to the twenty-two year old's honest and heartfelt articles. 

Four years, over fifty issues, and millions of dollars later, _The Winds of Change_ was still in business and was better than ever with each passing issue. Kagome had quickly become a favorite writer and was given many luxuries to make sure she didn't go anywhere. Not that she would have, considering how happy she was with her job. What other job would let her work out of her home four days a week making the kind of money she did? Letters and fan mail poured in for her by the dozens on a daily basis and every day, even after four years, she was humbled by the loyalty of her fans. 

Thanks to her excess of pay, she was able to help pay for her younger brother's college tuition as he attended school in the city, to pay for her grandfather's medical bills, and she was always safe in the knowledge that her mother would be taken care of. 

Maybe it wasn't the job she had imagined for herself, but it was a good job and she was happy. That was what mattered.

Unfortunately for Kagome, no one believed her when she said she was happy. Not her old friends from college, not her nosey grandfather, not even her over-bearing best friend, Sango. No one could believe that Kagome was happy without a man in her life. No one could believe that she was just happy going home to her apartment to an obese cat every night. That was why they were always setting her up on blind dates that ended in her not speaking to them for a few days.

When the interview was over, Kagome languidly made her way out of her dressing room, ditching the uncomfortably short business skirt in favor of a pair of tight black jeans. Her hair, loose around her shoulder instead of tightly drawn, and her glasses tucked into her pocket for use at a latter date. She was always meaning to get laser surgery, but somehow it was always pushed back.

Sango and Kagura were waiting for her outside, and fell into step beside her as they departed from the studio. "So, we _are_ going tomorrow then?" Sango pressed.

"Yeah," Kagura agreed. "I put this vacation off for much too long. Besides, I need a good romp in Atlantic City to put my head on straight."

Kagome scoffed. "Put your head on straight? Kagura, I've known you over four years, and I've never known you to think straight past a bottle of liquor and a deck of cards."

"You're one to talk!" she said with a scowl. "Last time little miss Kagome has some fun, it was behind the bleachers at high school!"

"Hey," Kagome said with a laugh. "That was some good times."

All three women laughed, a nice thing since they rarely laughed now a days. Life had become stressful and busy for them. Time together as friends was limited; time together in business was plentiful, but it wasn't the same. The three of them had been planning this three-day weekend to Atlantic City for weeks now.

"Kagome," Sango commented, looking over her friend with skeptical eyes. "Please tell me you aren't going to dress like that when we go on vacation?"

"What?" Kagome defended, looking at herself. "I like to call it, casual business." She turned around, modeling off the top half of her business suit complete with jean ensemble.

"You look retarded," Kagura commented without a tone. She walked to the curb outside the building, hailing a cab with tact and grace. "I'll see you two tomorrow, bright and early."

"Bye Kagura," Sango said with a smile.

Kagome pouted. "What is this, pick on Kagome day?" 

As the cab pulled up to the curb and Kagura climbed in, she turned back to the pair of them and grinned easily. "Chin up Kagome, your luck will change."

Kagome narrowed her eyes at that. The cab pulled away, leaving Kagome and Sango on the sidewalk together, waiting to hail cabs of their own. This left the young writer enough opportunity to round on her best friend. 

"What did she mean by that?" Kagome narrowed her eyes and slowly crossed her arms over her chest. They were few people who could resist Kagome at her contrariest, and Sango was no acceptation. She balked, just enough for the trained eye to see.

"I have no idea what you mean." She looked nervous. Not enough to where it would be picked up by the average eye, but Kagome was not fooled.

"You two are scheming something, aren't you?"

"Kagome--"

The fact dawned on Kagome like a ton of bricks and she flipped. "You set me up again, didn't you?!"

"Don't freak out on me," Sango cried, throwing her hands up in a gesture of submission, but Kagome was already fuming.

"I can't believe you'd do that after what happened last time!"

"How was I to know that you wouldn't hit it off with Kyle?" the publicist defended herself.

"The rocks he studied were more interesting than he was! For the love of God Sango, I don't think you know me at all sometimes."

"Correction," Sango denied with some of her usual fire. "I know you too well, and that's the problem."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kagome growled, hands planted on her hips as she stared down her taller friend on the busy New York sidewalk.

"Carpe Diem, my dearest of friends," Sango declared.

"Carpe...Seize the day?" Kagome questioned, stumped out of anger.

"You never go out Kagome," Sango reasoned. "You shut yourself up in that tiny apartment of yours, day and night, with your cat for company. All we want is for you to get a life!"

Kagome narrowed her eyes. "This is Miroku's influence, isn't it?"

Sango went from business to blushing in under ten seconds. All one needed to do was mention the name of her lethally-charming boyfriend to get a rise out of Sango. It was rather humorous. Though Kagome would never admit to being jealous, she did have a tiny bit of envy in her heart. 

"This has nothing to do with the pervert," Sango declared. "This has to do with your inability to function in a social environment."

"Sango--"

"We're going to Atlantic City tomorrow, be happy!" Suddenly, a cab pulled up on the curb and Sango leaned over to hug a very surprised Kagome. She pulled back quickly. "Pack some pretty things because we expect you to look nice when you meet him." Then she entered the cab and it took off.

Kagome, left standing on the curb, blinked stupidly after her friend's exit. "I think I just got conned..." she stated before hailing her own cab and heading home.

By now, it was late in the day and Kagome had no plans beyond curling up in her favorite chair and reading some letters tonight with her cat. When she unlocked the door to her apartment, she flicked on the light and walked in, tossing her bag on the nearest chair. "Buyo, I'm home," she called cheerily, closing the door behind her and locking all four locks--a chain, two dead bolts, and a knob lock.

The extremely pudgy, brown and white cat waddled toward her from his resting place on the huge green plush chair in the spacey living room. Kagome happily shed the jacket left over from her business suit and rolled up the long sleeved shirt, before bending over and picking up the large cat in her arms. 

"Hello, kitty," she said in a low voice as she cuddled her favorite fur ball. Heading towards the kitchen, Kagome paused to place her cat on the counter before grabbing a can of his food and leaving him some to eat. Then she rummaged a snack for herself. Out of her bag, Kagome fished out a stack of unopened mail, so she headed to her favorite chair to read.

Buyo joined her when he was finished eating, curling up in her lap and letting her stroke him as she read aloud each letter. Some were sad, some were funny, and some were just ridiculous. Kagome set four aside for her next article, then grabbed her phone for a few last minute preparations.

Souta answered on the fourth ring, and judging from his drowsy voice, he had been dosing while studying. "Hello?"

"Souta, it's Kagome."

"What do you want?" he asked, a yawn evident in his voice.

"Well, there's greetings for you," Kagome grumbled to Buyo. "You're going to look in on my cat while I'm gone, right?"

"Yes ma'am," he said with hints to sarcasm. "I have your key, I'll go over to feed the fuzz-ball twice a day. I know the drill, Sis."

"Okay, I was just making sure you didn't forget him," Kagome said with a smile. "Love you, twerp."

"Yeah, yeah." 

Kagome laughed to herself as she hung up. With that came last minute packing, and then sleep. Much needed, much deserved, much beloved sleep. Setting her alarm for six, and setting her new Japanese cd on low in her stereo, Kagome curled up for the night. Buyo settled in on the pillow beside her and Kagome fell asleep to the soft sound of purring in her ear, just like she did every night without fail.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kagome, small-wheeled suitcase in hand, met Kagura and Sango at the bus station the next morning. They had purchased tickets for the seven thirty bus to Atlantic City and they piled on with the grace and laughter that only women who have ingested too much caffeine could. For the morning and the bus ride, it was just the three of them. For some reason, lattes at seven thirty make even the best businesswomen into giggling schoolgirls.

They reminisced about the good old times, where the only responsibilities were what they would wear to whose party. Kagura thought back to her days before being an editor of her own magazine, to the days in college when she would bottom feed as a fact-checker journalist and how she glorified at the chance of making a difference. Sango, who was only a year older than Kagome, talked about how she never dreamed of publications until one college class changed her perspective. Kagome, who had always known she'd be a writer, talked more of her high school days and the crazy antics of her eccentric grandfather--who had been convinced that every boy she brought home was a demon in disguise.

"Kagome," Kagura laughed after a while. "Now that we have you here, and in such a fabulous mood might I add-- "

"Skip to the part where you tell me what you want," she replied sweetly.

"We need you to put up with a favor," Sango commented.

"If this has to do with my love life--"

"No," Kagura quickly denied. "This has to do with our new sponsorship with the magazine. As you know, these new sponsors from out west want to begin distributing _The Winds_ all over the country. If we can land the endorsement money, we could make ourselves a country-wide magazine."

"What does that have to do with me?" the young writer said dubiously. She was waiting for the catch.

"As you know, you are our most popular writer," Sango explained. "The sponsors have asked for a special to be done on you. They want to get to know the writer who holds the most sway over the readers."

"Get to know me? You mean interview me?"

"They mean _know_ you," Kagura said dryly. "As in follow you around, see your place, your family, and your cat."

"Why for fuck's sake would anyone want to get to know me?" Kagome swore. "I'm not that interesting. I own an obese cat; my little brother goes to NYU; the rest of my family lives in Jersey. End of story."

"I wish it were that simple," Kagura sighed.

"Kagome," Sango said lightly. "These sponsors are a big deal to the magazine. You'll have to put up with them butting into your business for the next couple weeks."

"No!" Kagome declared. "I don't want camera-wielding people tromping around my apartment all day. I refuse."

"Do you like your job, Kagome?" Kagura asked with a very dangerous smile. Even off-duty, she was still the boss and it was her magazine. Whatever she says goes.

Kagome sighed in defeat. "If I have to," she grumbled.

"Good," Kagura declared. "Now that that's settled, we're here! Let's go get drunk and gamble our money away."

"I second that notion," Kagome agreed.

"I'll meet up with you two for dinner in the hotel lobby," Sango said with a smile.

"Oh, that's right!" Kagome laughed. "Miroku's here too, yes?"

"And he brought a friend," Sango smiled deviously. "Dinner, seven o'clock sharp. And Kagome?"

"Yes, Sango?" Kagome asked in a dangerously sugar-sweet voice. 

"Wear something pretty." With that, the brunette sauntered off the bus and toward the hotel elevator. Kagome fumed, stomping after her. Kagura waved them both off, and made a b-line for the casino. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After an afternoon of loafing around in her room, ordering room service and watching movies, Kagome saw that it was time to go down for dinner. With a sigh, she rose from the bed and unzipped her suitcase, going through her 'nice' clothing to find something worth wearing on a blind date.

It wasn't that she didn't like dating. Kagome was a social person when she wanted to be and she was always willing to meet new people. It was just that whenever someone set her up, it ended badly. It was Murphy's Law. Whatever bad things can happen, do.

"They should call it Higurashi's Law," she grumbled as she dug through the wrinkled clothing. "Or at least, the Higurashi Law of Dating."

It just so happened that the phone beside her bed began ringing as she was about to pull on her dressier of sweaters. "Higurashi room," she said cheerily into the phone. 

"Kags, it's Sango."

"Like anyone else would call my room," Kagome said sarcastically. "What's up?"

"Are you almost ready?" 

"Getting there," Kagome commented, running her free hand through her messy black hair as she stared at the cluttered pile of clothes before her.

"I'll be right there." A click at the end of the line signaled her leave and when the door opened behind Kagome a few seconds later, it signaled Sango's arrival from across the hall. "I knew it," she sighed upon seeing Kagome and her pile. "You're hopeless."

"Don't go there, San," Kagome said with a frown. "I was just trying to decide what to wear considering...you know. I'm not all that elegant."

"Well that's what I'm here for," Sango replied as she began rifling through the clothing on the bed. "I will make you presentable, even if it kills me."

"You look much better than I ever could," Kagome whined, collapsing on to the bed and looking up at her friend. "I mean, you get your hair to do that 'neat' thing. And you're legs...I would kill for legs that good."

"Stop whining," Sango laughed. She struck a small pose, showing off her conservative, but extremely attractive attire of a white silk blouse and long black skirt. Both did wonders to show off her trim figure. "You too can look as good as Sango."

"Really?" Kagome said happily, hopping into a sitting position. "Oh please teach me, Obi wan."

"Fuck you," Sango laughed as she tossed a sweater over her friend's head. Then she squealed. "Kagome, you brought the dress!"

"What dress?" the writer asked after she freed herself from her silky confines. 

"The one I made you wear to the last work party. The one that made all those guys from publishing drool all over you!" Sango happily held up a simple low cut, middle length dress the same midnight blue as Kagome's eyes.

"That's so not me," Kagome whined. "I'm too trashy to look clean-cut."

"You're not trashy, Kags," Sango denied. "You're just out of date."

"Yay, now you can make me feel like a can of expired meat," Kagome said, batting her eyelashes. Sango rolled her eyes.

"Put it on, then I'll fix your hair." Grudgingly, Kagome changed in the bathroom and walked out, tugging on the waistline of the dress. It fit her every curve, which left Kagome very self-conscious. She was a girl who dressed for comfort, and didn't like showing off what Sango dubbed to be her assets. 

"See, all you have to do is stop fidgeting," Sango scolded, grabbing Kagome's hands from the hem of the dress as she sat on the edge of the bed. "You'll do fine."

"This feels like high school," Kagome commented. "My best friend picking my outfit and brushing my hair before my _big date_."

Sango laughed as she ran the brush through Kagome's soft locks. Never would she mention it, but Sango had always been jealous of Kagome's natural beauty. Even when she tried to hide it, there was just nothing she could wear that would make her ugly. That didn't mean, however, that she couldn't make herself look pretty once in a while. 

After a few more minutes of idle brushing, Sango neatly folded Kagome's hair into a loose French braid, allowing a few tendrils to fall and frame her face. "Lovely," Sango smiled. "Now we can go."

"Hurray! I'm starving," Kagome announced, grabbing her room key and waiting for Sango to follow her out the door. The women walked to the elevator arm in arm.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

No matter how many blind dates you are sent on, no matter how many times your friends and family set you up, you still get nervous just before meeting the guy someone you love says could be _the one_. Despite all of Higurashi's Law, Kagome was excited and nervous and in a surprisingly good mood.

They met up with Miroku in the restaurant, at the bar to be more exact. The dashing dark haired businessman had captured Sango's attentions half a year earlier when he groped her during a meeting for the magazine. It had been love, no matter how badly Sango had denied it at first. There was just something in the way he looked at her that made Kagome realize right off the bat that the two of them were going to be blissfully happy--even if that did involve the occasional blowout.

Dressed in casual wear, not a hair out of place, Miroku greeted Sango with his customary grabbing of her ass and his declaration of love. Sango replied with a slap to his face and a smile.

"Hello, Kagome," Miroku greeted her when she helped him from the floor.

"Hi, Miroku," she replied once he was right side up. "You're looking well."

"So are you," he said with a speculative look. Kagome blushed lightly but smiled happily.

"Sango did it. She's gone and turned me respectable. Now I have to meet that friend of yours looking normal."

"Oh, for shame," Miroku joked. "How ever will he survive knowing that you can look radiant when you wish?"

"That's what I say," Sango commented.

"No fair, two against one," Kagome declared, hopping on to a barstool. She ordered herself a drink before turning back to the pair. "So where is this person I am to entertain while you two lovebirds have a romantic Atlantic City dinner?"

"Last I saw, he was getting us a table," Miroku replied, turning to scan the restaurant before waving his hand. "I see him, come on."

All together they wandered toward the table saved by Miroku's mysterious friend. He casually leaned across one of the booth seats, feet propped up and elbows on the table. "Ladies," Miroku said formally. "This is my friend, Dr. Inuyasha Saishi." Kagome looked over Sango's shoulder to get a better look, and found herself gazing at, easily one of the most attractive men she had ever seen. Amber eyes that bordered on gold, straight silver hair to his shoulders, and sharp features defined him from the average man. "Yash, this is Sango Rae and Kagome Higurashi."

"A doctor, huh?" Sango said with a respectful nod. "How'd he meet you?"

"College," commented Inuyasha from the booth. "We were roommates." That was when everyone piled in and grabbed a menu. Kagome, taking a seat across from Inuyasha found her eyes wandering over her menu from time to time and had to scold herself to stop.

__

You're either very lucky, her mind declared. _Or Higurashi's Law is about to strike again in the form of an attractive doctor._ Her gut said Higurashi's Law, and it was almost never wrong.

Once the meals were ordered, and small talk was had about occupations and recent funny stories, the food came and was eaten mostly in silence. It was when she finished her bowl of oden--and a fine bowl it was--that Kagome decided it was the perfect opportunity for a little Sango/Miroku alone time.

"I'm going to the bar," she announced. "Inuyasha, would you like to join me?"

He blinked at her a moment-- having not been directly addressed by her at all so far in the evening-- shrugged and got up to follow. "Sure."

Once out of hearing distance from the table, she leaned over and whispered to him, "They need a little time to themselves."

Inuyasha didn't replied because he was far too busy being self-conscious. Granted, he was not the type of man who usually got that way around women-- at least when he wasn't treating them. There was just something about this Kagome Higurashi that had him feeling very out of place. Since the moment she sat down at the table, he seemed to have to keep her in the corner of his sight at all time, or risk some catastrophe from occurring. He found it difficult to concentrate on what Miroku or Sango had been saying, or even worse when they asked him a question. 

Inuyasha was not the kind of man to get flustered or tongue-tied or self-conscious. He was usually confident and out-going and borderline rude. Right now, he was on his best behavior, and he had no idea in hell why. 

He came to the conclusion that it had to be the fact that he hadn't been on a 'date' in over a year. Since his intern rotations ended and he became a fully licensed doctor, he had been so busy working ERs in New York to have much of a social life. Apart from Monday Night football parties at Miroku's apartment, he hadn't gone out at all since he began working the ER as _Dr._ Saishi.

"Ah," Kagome said suddenly. She sat on a stool and comfortably elevated her feet beside her. "Sorry about that," she blushed slightly. "These shoes hurt like a bitch."

"Why do you wear them if they hurt?" Inuyasha asked with a half-raised eyebrow, taking the open seat beside her.

"Dramatic effect," Kagome declared. "I would look like a midget beside Sango if I didn't have heels. I'm only five feet tall."

"I'm six feet," he told her. "You'd look like a midget next to me no matter what shoes you wear."

Kagome looked at him with such a glare he thought she was going to throw her gin and tonic right in his face. That was why he was so surprised when she laughed. "I guess you're right. But you're a guy, so that's ok. I shouldn't look tiny next to another woman."

"Did you ever think that maybe Sango's just freakishly tall for a woman?" Inuyasha offered, accepting his rum and coke from the bartender.

"That could be true," Kagome nodded. Like it was perfectly logical to think of your best friend as freakishly tall. "Ah, who cares?" she muttered at last. After she downed half of her drink, she turned to study her partner. Inuyasha watched back with a steady gaze. "How did Miroku rope you into this blind date?" she asked.

For a moment, he only blinked at her. "Um..." Inuyasha stuttered to begin. "He just asked if I'd come down to the city with him for the weekend. He didn't mention a blind date until this afternoon."

"Ah, so you got pulled into the old _snatch and grab_ ploy."

"Pardon?"

Kagome grinned. "You are the empty glass," Kagome said, downing the rest of her drink and putting the empty glass upside down on the bar counter. When the bartender brought her a new drink, she placed that next to it. "The full glass is Miroku. The snatch is when he feeds you a little to get you to come." She turned over the glass and poured a mouthful of drink in it. "The grab is when he tells you the catch while you're drinking." She swallowed the mouthful for emphasis. "_Snatch and grab_."

"You're an expert?" Inuyasha asked, very amused and equally interested.

"When you are the queen of bad blind dates," she laughed. "You know the name of every technique."

"So how did they get you to agree?" he asked her, finishing off the rest of his own drink and ordering another.

"I was simply conned," she explained. "No fancy trick, a plain, flat-out con."

"A toast to bad dates," Inuyasha said, holding his fresh drink aloft. Kagome tapped her glass against his.

"Cheers. Let's get drunk and forget that we're being set up."

"I'll drink to that."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Miroku," Sango commented over dessert. "Did you notice that Kagome and Inuyasha left the bar?" 

Miroku looked up from the mouth-watering piece of cheesecake that dangled from the fork of his beloved to look at the bar stools that once occupied his best friend and the sassy writer. Both stools were vacant and the bartender was carrying a large armload of glasses from the counter toward his sink.

"Oh, hell," he exclaimed. "Those two were downing more alcohol than the entire state of Nevada."

"We'd better go find them before they pass out in the lobby or casino. If we're not careful, Kagura might rifle their pocket change for the slots."

The pair paid for the meal and left the restaurant in search of their wayward friends. Sango went to the casino while Miroku explored the lobby.

In the casino, Sango found Kagura, sitting at a slot machine with two plastic containers full of quarters. "Come on baby," she chanted, pulling on the handle. "Momma needs a new ipod!"

"Kagura," Sango called, drawing her attention. It was just Sango's luck that the quarter was a dud.

"Dammit Sango, you broke my mantra!" complained the red-eyed editor. "What's the matter?"

"Have you seen Kagome? We were at the bar, having dinner, and she disappeared with Miroku's friend."

"Hey," Kagura said happily, feeding another quarter to her slot machine. "She might finally get lucky tonight. I swear, she needs a good lay."

"Focus Kagura," Sango said seriously. "She's drunk off her ass. What if she's hurt?"

"Relax," Kagura told her friend. "This is Kagome we're talking about. The straightedge writer everyone's always calling a virgin. How much trouble could she get into?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When Kagome woke up, she noticed three things. 

The first was that her head hurt worse than if a steamroller had just run it over. Her temples throbbed, her eyelids ached, and her skull felt like it was caving in. All in all, she had a wonderful hangover that came from a night of getting drunk with her new favorite bar buddy.

The second was that she was naked. This wasn't a fact that alarmed her greatly because she had slept nude in the past. Usually when she was out at a business dinner or meeting until late and was too tired to crawl into her sweats after coming home. When she tried to move, she bunched the sheet around her and shuffled to the edge of the bed, willing herself to walk to the shower.

The third thing she noticed was that she was not alone in her bed. That was called to attention when she came into contact with a warm body while shuffling toward the edge of the bed. A firm, muscular, silver-haired body that she wasn't hung over enough to think of as her cat.

With a small shriek, Kagome launched herself backwards and tumbled head first on to the floor of the hotel room, only increasing her pain and waking up her partner. Inuyasha, equally hung over and nude, looked up at her with fuzzy gold eyes. It took him a moment to realize the fact that he was in a woman's bed before his eyes widened and he jumped to his feet, swaying from side to side and holding a pillow in front of his more private parts.

"Oh God," Kagome cried in a shaky voice. "Do you remember what we did last night?"

"In so many words?" Inuyasha asked, voice rough and eyes pained.

"Fuck!" Kagome screamed, looking down at her left hand. It was true. On her ring finger, the one that used to be bare, there was a small, golden band. "Fuck fuck fuck!" she cursed.

"Let's not lose our heads here," Inuyasha said, holding out his left hand to calm her down, only realizing that he was also wearing a ring. "Oh, fuck..."

"We really _did_ it," Kagome breathed, looking pale and feeling as if she was about to vomit. 

"Let's be calm," Inuyasha said, striving for calm when he really felt as horrified as she looked.

"Calm?!" Kagome coughed, staring incredulously at him with wide midnight eyes. "We were fucking _married _last night!" 

And that was when the door flew open.


	2. Chapter 2: The Old Ball & Chain

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A/n: Wow! I never expected to get so many reviews for this story! I guess you guys really do enjoy a good whimsical love story, lol. I'm really happy though because I like this story so far, and I think you'll all enjoy what I have planned. (ie: horribly romantic, funny stuff) I'm doing my best to make this a successful, good story. And for those of you who read my other work, the next chapter of SotO will be out in a few days, and CotG will be out by next weekend. Because there were so many reviews for the first chapter (WEEEEEE!) I won't be doing any reviewer responses (it would take me hours!) unless someone asks a question or makes a comment I think it worth addressing. Enjoy!

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Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, but I dream about him sometimes. I dream about Mel Gibson too, but I don't own him either. (breaks into song When you're a clown, no one takes you seriously!)

Breaking the Rules

_Chapter 2: The Old Ball & Chain_

Kagome's POV

Okay, I know what you're thinking. "Way to go Kagome, you landed yourself a man." Don't get me wrong, if the shoe was on a different foot, I would probably be saying the same thing. But thinking about a situation and being in the middle of it are two entirely, different things. Waking up from a night-long bender to find yourself married to a man you've known less than a day is pretty scary, no matter how sexy he is.

Before I continue, and you all dismiss me as a weak female, understand the reason why. Higurashi's law has been a factor in my life since I was fifteen years old, systematically breaking down every relationship I ever put my heart into. It left me with a lot of battle scars and more issues than I ever tried to sort out. 

I think that was why I accepted the job for writing love advice for Kagura.She wanted a cliché article that catered to women who needed the reassurance of themselves by reading of the problems of others. I took the job, trying to reach out to women like me who could just not find love. Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't find love, complain about it. I did that through my articles.

I had always complained about love, run from it whenever it came too close, and nursed a broken heart alone in my apartment. Buyo was the only male creature that had shared my bed in nearly four years. Souta and my grandfather were the only men who had stayed by my side_. _I had lost my trust in the opposite sex, and the fact that a drunken binge landed me married didn't exactly make me feel inclined to open up.

Now, Higurashi's Law had never backfired on me as bad as I experienced that night. It got me to think that maybe Inuyasha had his own Law--perhaps, the Saishi Principle--that exponentially increased our bad luck with relationships. We were two of a kind, you see. 

Sango had been up most of the night, worried sick for the sake of her friend. When she wasn't scouring the hotel from head to toe, she was threatening employees for answers. Miroku had repeatedly tried to put her at ease, as well as free the frightened bellhops from her grasp. He had to remind her that Inuyasha was a gentleman and wouldn't force Kagome into anything, especially when she was without inhibitions. Sango was still worried. She didn't know Inuyasha as well as Miroku did, but she knew Kagome--even a very drunk Kagome.

After a night of searching, they still found neither hide nor hair of the missing doctor or writer. The only lead they were able to track down was a shy bellhop contesting to the fact that he saw the pair of them near the chapel adjacent to the casino around midnight. In the time it took Sango to work herself into a frenzy, Kagura arrived--quarters in hand--to take charge.

Sending Sango off to bed, Kagura took over the search of the hotel. She questioned everyone, even those who had been harassed by Sango as well as searching the building from top to bottom. There had been nothing all night, but when a maid was questioned, she gave them a strange look and said that "Miss Higurashi" had been in her room with a guest for hours. That was when Kagura assaulted the room. What she found was not reassuring.

For a moment, there was only silence. Ruby eyes jetted back and forth from Kagome, who was clutching a sheet to her body, to her guest, who happened to be holding a pillow over the lower part of his body. Both blushed crimson under her stare, but that only caused the editor to take a deep breath of air into her lungs. "SANGO!"

The publicist burst forth from her room across the hall, fully dressed and ready to go. Hopping on one foot while she jammed the other into her shoe, she lost her balance and promptly fell into Kagura, causing them both to fall to the ground in a heap. 

"What's so important..." Sango began but trailed off when she looked up and saw the current predicament. "Oh." It was the only thing to say.

"Holy fuck!" Kagura yelled as she climbed to her feet, brushing herself off. "You two have been up here going at it while we've been looking for you high and low?"

"Kagura..." Kagome said, the first words she spoke. She was using her warning tone, the tone that she hardly ever used but did when it meant business. Kagome didn't lose her temper, really lose her temper, very often, but when she did it was not a pretty sight. 

"Where in hell did you two go?" Sango yelled as she got to her feet. 

"San, believe me when I say--"

"What's going on in here?" Miroku interrupted as he entered the room as well. He had been drawn to the room by the raised voices. With one look at the disheveled Kagome, Miroku received his answer. When his eyes wandered to Inuyasha, he clamped his hands over his violet eyes and shouted, "My retinas!"

Inuyasha scowled and turned to look at Sango. "What do you possibly see in that guy?"

Sango shrugged. "He's cute."

"Can we get back to the subject at hand, people," Kagura yelled, ruby eyes flashing. She placed her hands firmly on her hips, making the transition to business woman in the blink of an eye. 

"Yeah!" Sango agreed lamely. "Do you have any idea how worried we've been?"

"Sorry Mom," Kagome muttered sarcastically. "I'm a big girl you know."

Sango scowled. "Yes, a big girl who got drunk and disappeared out of a bar in Atlantic City with a man who could very well be a serial rapist!"

"Hey!" Inuyasha interrupted. "I resent that."

"Inuyasha," Kagome said in her warning voice, only louder than before. She also pointed her finger at him while holding up the sheet with her other hand. "Sit!" Without hesitation or argument, Inuyasha sat down quietly on the bed, looking both wounded and annoyed. That was when Kagome rounded on Sango.

"In case you have forgotten, San," she said poignantly. "You're the one who made me go on this blind date to begin with."

"But I didn't tell you to get drunk and fuck the guy!"

"You didn't tell me to get married either," her friend yelled back, getting ferocious and clutching her sheet higher. "I did that just fine on my own!"

That was when the room fell silent. Sango, mouth agape, simply stared at her friend as if she had grown a second head. Even Miroku peeled his hands from his eyes to look at his ex-roommate for a denial that never came. Kagome looked away from them, her eyes welling in defeated anger, threatening to spill the tears she'd be damned to let any of them see. 

When the silence stretched too long for comfort, Kagura spoke. "Okay, someone gonna clue me in to the story here?"

"Last night," Inuyasha voiced, noticing how ridged Kagome had become. "As you all know we were drunk out of our heads. Well, somehow we wandered into the chapel inside the casino and... we kinda got married."

"You... did.... WHAT!?" Sango screamed, all the blood rushing from her face. She looked like she was about to faint. Miroku gripped her shoulders in case she did, but she batted his hands away and stomped over to Kagome, pointing a finger in her face as she towered over the smaller woman. "If this is some kind of a joke, it's not funny!"

"It's not a joke," Kagome said quietly, almost inaudibly. "I wish to God it was, but it's not."

Sango looked at her in desperation. "Kagome--"

"Get out," Kagome said calmly. 

Sango was about to comment further when Kagura grabbed her, a hand across her mouth. "I think that's a good idea. You can get cleaned up and we'll talk this over rationally later." With that, she promptly dragged Sango from the room, Miroku trailing behind and closing the door.

Once they were gone, Kagome let out a deep breath. "You okay?" Inuyasha asked her, getting up and helping her to the bed. Kagome, still hung over and feeling sick, appreciated the help until she remembered that she was angry with him too. 

"When I said for everyone to get out," she said evenly. "I meant you too."

Inuyasha blinked, gold eyes wide in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"I want you to get out," she said again, raking a hand through her tangled hair. "You're the last person I want to see at the moment, so please, just go."

"But, we need to talk about this," he stated, feeling his annoyance coming back. "I'm just as involved as you are."

"Inuyasha," Kagome said, looking up so midnight blue met with gold. When their eyes met, he felt something tighten in his chest, something about how lost and frightened she looked. That was why he was so caught off guard when she grabbed his arm and pulled him out the door before slamming it in his face. 

Inuyasha was dazed a moment until he came to terms with the fact that his clothes were still in her room and all he had was a pillow. Turning, he banged on the door. "Kagome, let me in! I'm naked out here! Kagome!"

A few early riser guests walked down the hallway, looking at the man standing in the hall, pounding on the door, bare apart from a pillow. Inuyasha tried his best to ignore the looks, but his temper was getting the best of him. "Kagome!" The door opened just long enough for him to be hit in the face with a ruffled pile of clothes. He growled, but took the clothes and stalked toward his own room.

It was long hours before Kagome dragged herself from the room. With the theme song to _Mission: Impossible_ playing in the back of her head, she snuck down the empty hallway and to the elevator. Kagura and Sango were both in the casino, as expected, feeding their hard earned money-- changed into quarter form of course-- into the slots, hoping to hit that jack-pot million.

Taking a deep breath for strength, feeling the butterflies in her stomach grow more intense and that voice yelling at her from inside her chest, calling her a coward, Kagome went up to them. "Kagura, Sango?"

"Kagome!" Sango exclaimed, surprised to see her. "How are you?"

Kagome smiled a little sourly. "Don't ask me that," she said lightly. "I would take up all your time." Her friend only nodded and frowned.

"What's up?" Kagura asked. As always, she scented a problem from miles away.

"Can we leave Atlantic City?" she asked timidly. "I know it's asking a lot, making you two give up your vacation time, but I just want to go home."

"Of course," Sango said with a nod. "We can take a bus this afternoon back to the city."

"Yeah, I already spent enough money as it is," Kagura said with a sly smile. Kagome returned it. "We have your back." The writer nodded appreciatively.

"What did Inuyasha say?" Sango asked.

Kagome winced. She hadn't talked to him. She couldn't face him. Just thinking about him made her feel like the biggest of assholes. She was being even more of a coward, even more of an ass, by leaving without telling her husband. "We'll talk after I go back to the city," she said lamely. And that was when she went back to her room, to hide her shame, to cry a little more, and to just be generally miserable. If this was what it was like to be married, she never wanted to get married for real.

"Do you think she talked to him?" Sango asked, watching Kagome leave.

"No chance in hell," Kagura returned. "Kagome is too terrified for rational thought, right now."

"You saw that too?"

"It's obvious. What's even worse, she probably would end up liking the guy." Kagura laughed a little before turning to Sango. "Irony is Kagome's bedfellow."

"I guess."

"So tell me, what's her husband's name?"

Sango repressed a laugh with a cough. Using Kagome and husband in the same sentence was a sign of the apocalypse. "Inuyasha Saishi, I think. _Dr._ Inuyasha Saishi. He was an old roommate of Miroku's."

"Inuyasha Saishi huh?" Kagura furrowed her brows and shrugged. "That name sounds familiar to me." 

"Saishi is a fairly common name," Sango commented idly.

"I guess."

"Well, we should go pack our bags for home," the publicist declared as she got up, arching her back and yawning.

"I've got another hour's worth of quarters at least," the editor replied with a scathing grin. Sango rolled her eyes and laughed as she headed for the elevator.

Inuyasha sat in his room and fumed. He was now fully clothed, but he was still smarting from the embarrassment of his hallway experience and the pretty maid who blushed and smiled at him as she walked by. 

He had taken a quick shower, attempting to wash off the scent of the woman whom he had spent the night with. It worked, but he could still feel it in his blood. It made him feel a little crazy, a little angry, but mostly confused.

When was the last time he had slept with a woman? Not since med school, before his graveyard internship. Granted, he had been drunk when he and Kagome had sex, but that didn't mean he didn't feel everything they had done. The sad thing was he remembered it all too. Especially the part about them going into the chapel and getting married within ten minutes using a cup full of quarters Kagome had stolen from her gambling friend when she went to the bathroom.

He sighed, running his hands through damp silver hair and cradling his skull in his palms. When was the last time he had gotten himself into such a mess? Not since high school, when he had gotten caught smoking pot behind the bleachers and was nearly expelled if not for intervention. 

"I don't think building a gym will make this go away," he reasoned with himself. "I guess we could get an annulment, considering we were drunk."

Inuyasha looked down at his left hand, studying the small gold band on his finger that was the same bright color as his molten eyes. For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to take it off his finger. Some instinct told him to keep it on or risk certain doom. He had always been raised to believe superstition and his instincts above reason, so he left the ring alone.

"I should go talk to Kagome," he declared with a nod. He got to his feet and walked to the door, but just as he reached out to grasp the knob, he shook his head and dove back to the bed, tossing the blanket over his head like a scared child. "Ah hell, five more minutes!"

"Do you really have to go?" Miroku begged, kneeling beside the bed, watching Sango pack her clothes in the small suitcase.

"Yeah," she sighed, pulling the sipper. "I really did bring this on myself though."

"What do you mean?"

Sango faced him, sitting on the bed in front of Miroku and running her fingers through his hair. "We did force our friends on that date."

"We didn't tell them to get drunk and get married," he reasoned, looking up at her pitifully. 

Truth was, Sango didn't want to go and Miroku didn't want her to. They had planned to have a little weekend away from business and the hectic city. For Sango it was to have some time with her friends during the day, but the nights would have been theirs. Now, she had to leave because Kagome needed her, and her loyalty was to her friend before her man.

"No, but Kagome is always begging me not to force her out. I just never listened." Sango sighed and leaned down to kiss her boyfriend. Miroku met her halfway and they were locked in a heated exchange until a jolt at the door brought them back to their senses.

Kagura threw the door open nosily and stalked into the room, ruby eyes flaming, her sturdy frame shaking, and her hands balled into fists. "We're fucked!" she yelled.

Sango jumped to her feet, inadvertently knocking Miroku over. "Kagura...?"

"I remembered where I've heard that name," she said simply. "And we're fucked!"

"Calm down," Sango said rationally, brow furrowed. "What's the problem?"

Kagura took this opportunity to narrow her eyes as Miroku. "Why did you set up my best writer with a Saishi?!"

"What's the matter with Inuyasha?" Miroku said defensively.

"Kagura," Sango said, her temper rising. "If you don't start explaining yourself..."

"Kagome's new husband is the little brother of Sesshomaru Saishi!" Kagura shouted. Her top lip curled into a snarl and she looked ready to kill someone. Miroku, preferably, if she could get her hands on him.

"So?" He asked.

"Miroku, quiet," Sango said tersely. Her lavender eyes were closed and her body was tense. After a few deep, cleansing breaths, Sango opened her eyes to face the editor before her. "We have to deal with this carefully. No leaks to the press. When you dance with a devil, you do it lightly."

"Just what I expected," Kagura said with a smirk. "We have to go back to the city. _Now_."

"We'll leave as soon as Kagome is ready."

With a nod, Kagura turned and left the same way she had come, slamming the door behind her. Miroku watched the exchange with a pensive expression, but once the scary one was gone, the scary-but-hot one turned to him.

"Am I missing something?" he asked. One approached these things carefully when trying to get information from a tigress. She was as deadly as she was beautiful.

"A brain," she snapped, massaging the skin on the bridge of her nose. "How could you do this to me?" Sango begged him, looking completely overwhelmed. "Why?"

"What's the matter?" he asked in surprised horror when he saw the tears brimming in her bright eyes.

"This could ruin us Miroku!" her voice catching as she spoke. "If Sesshomaru gets wind of this, it could mean the end of _The Winds_."

"Okay Sango," he declared, grabbing her by the shoulders and forcing her to sit down. "You will take a deep breath," which he led her in by example, "and you will tell me what you are talking about. What does Sesshomaru have to do with this? How could Kagome and Inuyasha's little indiscretion ruin your magazine?"

"You don't get it," she said in a low voice. "Journalism... No, all writing is the most difficult of careers. You live by the issue, praying your readers are loyal, will buy your product, and will continue to read what you have to say. One scandal, one loss of faith in us and our readers are _gone_ and everything we've work for is nothing."

Miroku sat beside her, looping an arm around her waist casually so as not to make her feel crowded. He had always been a good listener, a comforting presence to all who knew and trusted him. Okay, so he freely admitted that his hands could take on minds of their own when around certain women, but that didn't mean that he couldn't tell the difference between a time to grope and a time to behave.

"You still haven't told me what this has to do with Sesshomaru," he said lightly when Sango leaned her head against his shoulder.

"He's the editor and founder of _The Western Lands_, our main competition," Sango sighed, her temples beginning to throb at the thought of all the paperwork she'd have to clear in the name of this matter. "If he uses this incident against Kagome, it could be the beginning of our downfall."

"But Inuyasha is his brother," Miroku commented, "wouldn't exposing this backlash on him?"

"Not really, considering Inuyasha doesn't work for him. Still, we'll have to take this slowly and carefully to avoid damage." He nodded, pulling her a fraction closer to him. "Oh, Kagura is going to be on edge for days."

"Why?"

"She and Sesshomaru had a thing."

"A thing?" Miroku blinked in his shock. "Those two? When?!"

"In college, five or so years ago. It ended bad," she explained. "And the results are what we have, both of them rivals in a fickle business and always at each other's throats when they are within reaching distance of one another."

Miroku laughed a little, shaking his head. "I could never picture the two of them together."

"I could," Sango sighed. "They were a perfect couple. Both are domineering, stubborn, and possess superiority complexes the size of Manhattan. Plus there is that little fact that they are both still madly in love with one another, but neither will admit it."

They chuckled together until a knock on the door disrupted them. Kagome poked her head in, looking apologetic when she saw Miroku, and said she was going to wait in the lobby with Kagura. Sango nodded, kissed her boyfriend, and left the hotel room with her suitcase in hand.

Kagome sat on the rim of her bathtub, her hands shaking badly as she pulled the small gold band from her left ring finger and shoved it into her pocket. Taking a few deep breaths to settle her renegade stomach, she ran a brush neatly through her hair and looked herself over. 

Three days had passed since her return from Atlantic City, and her first meeting with the sponsors was only moments away. Sango had arranged it where the head of the sponsorship and his assistant were coming to Kagome's own modest apartment to interview her. They wanted to feel her out, see what made her tick. What was better than seeing where she lived?

Kagome had spent the weekend she was supposed to be spending gambling with her friends, cleaning her apartment for company. Now she was sitting in her bathroom, knowing that any second her future would be knocking on the door, and she would have to answer. Buyo was mewing from the living room, angry about being locked out. He always wanted to be wherever she was. It was nice to have such unconditional love, even though it was more common to find in dogs than cats. Maybe it was because he was so obese. 

She looked pale when looking back at herself through the mirror. Her eyes were wide and glassy, missing their usual spark of insolence. Kagome felt sick to her stomach, but didn't know if that was due to her cowardice at not being able to talk about her impending annulment, or because of the interview about to very well decide her future in writing.

When the doorbell rang, she plastered a fake smile on her face, pinched her cheeks for color, and answered as cheerily as she possibly could. Standing in the hallway was a man in a fine tailored suit and neat black hair. When he met her gaze, Kagome saw that his eyes were dark, but she couldn't distinguish the color, but she did notice the light eye shadow. She resisted the urge to snicker, and covered it well with a cough. She had gotten so worked up over this?

"Miss Higurashi?" he asked with a questioning glance over her entire frame. "Yes, you looked better on television."

Taken aback by the blatant rudeness, Kagome only blinked before speaking. "You are?"

"Naraku Ichiban," he introduced himself before pushing past her and into the apartment. It was only then that Kagome noticed the young woman following him. She couldn't have been more than twenty, petite in figure with bone white hair and a paler complexion than Kagome herself.

"You're the representative for the sponsors?" Kagome questioned as she closed the door behind them.

"That we are," Naraku said with a smirk Kagome thought looked a little predatory. "So tell me, where can we conduct this interview?"

"Right this way," Kagome said with a smile, ushering both Naraku and the young woman with him into her living room. Kagome paused only long enough to grab her glasses from the counter in the kitchen, shoving them on her face as she followed. They made her feel more intelligent if nothing else.

"Could I get you something to drink?" she offered the two as they sat. Kagome noted, rather begrudgingly, that Naraku went straight for her favorite chair. Mentally calming herself, rather than impaling the man on the spot, she tried to make herself busy. 

"I never drink when I work," Naraku commented while making a face. "It goes right through me."

"And you miss?" Kagome addressed the young woman. She looked surprised for a moment, as if not used to being noticed. 

"Soda?" she asked quietly, as if expecting Kagome to refuse. Instead, the young writer smiled and nodded.

"One soda, coming up." She disappeared into the kitchen, returning a moment later with a mug of tea for herself and a glass of soda. "All I had was diet, I hope that's all right."

"Yes," the woman replied, sipping and smiling slightly. 

Naraku, who had watched this in silence, suddenly snapped his fingers and crossed his legs with a flourish of fanfare. "Let's begin. Kanna," he said, turning to his assistant. Kanna placed her drink down on a coaster on the small coffee table in the center of the room, then pulled a notebook computer from her side bag. Setting it up on her lap before Kagome could even settle in her chair, Kanna was ready to begin recording the interview in the blink of an eye.

"Well, you certainly come prepared," Kagome said, laughing a little nervously. Kanna smiled politely but Naraku was not amused. Kagome coughed lightly and smiled. "Would you like to start with a few questions?"

"Yes, thanks," Naraku said sourly. He pulled out a small notebook from his pocket and flipped through a few pages of notes. "Miss Higurashi, why do you think people read your article?"

Kanna's fingers began a steady assault on the keys, typing softly as Kagome began speaking. "Well, I think people read my articles because they go through a lot of the same experiences as those who write the letters. There are a lot of problems that women face in life, and love should not always be as difficult as it is."

"Really?" Naraku said with a smug smile. "And what's the main problem women write to you about?"

"Self-consciousness," Kagome answered without hesitation. "Women write to me most of the time because they think there is something wrong with them, and that's why they can't find true love. They're either too fat, or too thin, or too ugly, or they're not smart enough. Women in this country are set to a very high standard that few actually achieve and many spend their entire lives trying to achieve it."

"And what do you tell them?"

"That they should be happy with who they are," she said simply. "If you don't like how you look, you can change it. Most of the time, it's not that they don't think they look good enough, it's that they think others don't think so. I tell them that as long as they are happy with who they are, they should never have to change for anyone else. Anyone who truly loves you would love you for who you are, no matter what. If they want you to change, they aren't worth it. Sometimes, women are just better off alone."

"You don't think a woman needs a man to be happy?" This question totally blew Kagome's mind. She openly stared at the man interviewing her as if he had two heads. "Miss Higurashi?" he asked, bringing her back to reality when she had spaced out for too long.

"A woman's happiness should _never_ depend on a man," she said vehemently.

"This, of course, is coming from a single woman," he replied smugly.

Kagome seethed, but bit into her tongue instead of socking her potential sponsor. Oh, Kagura would owe her for this one. She was, however, about to come out with her own smug remark when the doorbell rang. Kagome got to her feet and plastered the fake smile to her face again. "Excuse me."

With that, she stomped off to the door, not even pausing to check the peephole before throwing the door open. The way she saw it, if there was a murderer or thief waiting at the other end, he picked the wrong time to mess with her. Who stood at her door was worse, and made all her indignant anger disappear in the blink of an eye. Inuyasha.

"Hi," he said with a fake smile before scowling at her. "I had to beat your address out of Miroku."

"Oh, remind me to send him a fruit basket," she intoned, too shocked to form real thought.

"How could you vanish before we talked about this?" he yelled at her.

"Inuyasha," she said, looking back into the apartment and seeing that his raised voice had brought Naraku from the living room. "Now really isn't the time." She turned back to him, ready to beg him to leave, but he pushed past her and into the apartment. For the second time that day, Kagome found herself closing the door and facing the danger.

"I don't give a fuck if it's a good time or not," he raged. "You took off before we could figure out what to do about our little situation."

"I'm a coward!" she yelled back at him, poking a finger into his chest. "I didn't want to deal with everything."

"Well welcome to reality, sweetheart," he snapped. "Sometimes you have to deal with the bad things. You can't run every time you get scared."

"Get out," Kagome said low and venomous. 

"In case you have forgotten," Inuyasha said, his voice rising as he spoke. Kagome saw Naraku walk into the hall just as Inuyasha shouted, "We're married!"

That caused silence to descend upon the room as Kagome stared at the sponsor in horror and he grinned wickedly back at her. Inuyasha noticed her looking over his shoulder so he turned and saw the man standing at the doorway to her living room. His eyes narrowed as he turned back to Kagome, suspecting her motivation of entertaining this man to be less than pure. 

Truth be told, Kagome didn't care what Inuyasha thought, but she cared very much for the thoughts and eventual opinions of Naraku, so she quickly pushed past her angry husband to take Naraku by the arm. "Pardon me," she said with a strained smile. "I have a little business to clear up in here before we can continue." She steered him back into the living room before stomping over and grabbing Inuyasha by his ear, dragging his savagely into her kitchen and slamming the door behind them.

"Ow!" he shouted when she released him, rubbing the injured ear. "That hurt!"

"You son of a bitch!" she screamed at him. "How dare you come here and throw a fit! Where the fuck do you get off?" He looked ready to add a few words of his own but Kagome only grabbed his ear again and shouted some more. "Well I hope you're happy, you hell spawn, because you've probably cost me my fucking career!"

"What are you talking about?" he asked loudly when she released him again.

"That man," Kagome ranted, pointing out toward her living room, "is the representative for my sponsors. If he doesn't get a good opinion of me, my magazine doesn't get paid. If they don't get paid, I'm out on the fucking street!"

For a moment, he looked a bit remorseful, realizing the full impact of what he had just done to her, but he shook it off. He had come feeling angry and he resolved to leave angry as well. She was the one who ran away, he was just cleaning up the mess she left. He would not be driven to feel sorry for her.

"That doesn't excuse you from running off instead of just being an adult and talking to me," he told her, determination set in his expression. He would not back down.

Kagome frowned, looking away from his steady golden gaze. "You're right," she sighed, defeated. "I should have stayed and faced it, but you don't understand." Kagome turned from him then, hugging herself tightly and pressing her forehead against the door of her refrigerator. "Higurashi's Law has fucked me over pretty good this time."

"I beg your pardon," he commented, not understanding her at all.

"Never mind," she said, still not looking at him. A loud meow drew her attention as the bulk of Buyo launched itself at Inuyasha and successfully landed himself haphazardly in the bewildered doctor's arms. Also managing to knock Inuyasha off balance and into Kagome. 

Suddenly too close for comfort to the person neither would like to be close two, both blushed fiercely before jumping back simultaneously. Inuyasha decided to change topics and look at the thing in his arms.

"What the hell?"

"Buyo!" Kagome scolded. "Bad kitty!" As she had suspected long ago, Buyo the cat actually had a habit of thinking he was a dog. He acted like one too, and one of his more dog-like habits was defending Kagome when he felt she was in danger.

"This fur ball belongs to you?" Inuyasha questioned, adjusting the sudden weight in his arms until he was cradling her cat gently.

"My one and only true love," Kagome commented dryly, scratching her cat behind his ears until he purred loudly. So loud, in fact, that Inuyasha thought he was holding a jackhammer rather than a cat. After a moment of silent reserve, Kagome drew herself up and headed toward the door. "Wait here, I'm going to finish up my interview and then we can talk about this like adults."

"I'll be right here," he said with a nod. Kagome felt reassured as she exited, and entered the living room once more.

Kanna was typing furiously at her notebook and Naraku was in the corner, on his cell phone. "I'm telling you," he was saying excitedly. "A guy just burst into her apartment and declared himself her husband! This is the greatest thing I've ever seen. The press will eat out of the palms of our hands for this scandal. I can see the headlines now, 'Advice Writer Caught In Wedded Web'. I stun myself sometimes."

Kagome cleared her throat angrily, drawing attention back to herself. Naraku quickly closed the phone and pocketed it, as if he had not been speaking into it seconds before. He smiled, huge and fake, in her face, the smile one gave a slow child. "Kagome, we were wondering what became of you."

"I had a little business to deal with," she said calmly. "Shall we finish?"

"No," Naraku announced. "We can finish this up another time. We have all we need." With that, Kanna began closing her computer and getting ready to leave. Kagome knew that she was about to be ruined if she didn't do something quick.

"I'm married," she blurted suddenly. Both of them stopped what they were doing to stare up at her. "I got married over the weekend," she continued. "The man who came in here was my husband. We haven't made it official yet, my name hasn't changed and neither of us have moved yet, so I would appreciate a lid on the fact until we make it official."

"Of course!" Naraku assured her with that fake smile again. He had no intentions of honoring her request and she knew it. At least if she openly admitted to the marriage, it wouldn't seem as though she was hiding anything.

"When should we finish the interview?"

"We'll contact your publicist with the date," he commented, summoning Kanna as they made to leave. Kagome trailed after them, the picture of defeat. There was no saving her now. It was the end. Everything she had ever worked for was slipping through her fingers like sand.

"It was... interesting, meeting you Miss Higurashi," Naraku said as he was about to walk out the door. "Or should I call you Mrs. ...?"

"Miss Higurashi," Kagome said firmly. "I haven't changed my name."

"Of course," he said with a humoring look. Kagome shut the door behind him just a little harder than was necessary. Once out in the hallway, Naraku turned to his assistant with a raised eyebrow. "And who is he?"

"My search concluded that, as you suspected, he is Inuyasha Saishi," Kanna replied flatly. She liked the young writer who had politely welcomed them into her home, and hated setting in motion what was sure to be a disastrous thing. "A doctor who works in the ER at Mercy General hospital and younger brother to the Saishi family."

Naraku smiled. "Perfect."

"Miss Nitao's office, please hold," the operator chirped into her headset for the millionth time that afternoon, pressing a button to send the caller off into a world of elevator music and endless waiting. She happily answered another caller in the same way. "Miss Nitao's office, please hold." 

As she worked, she toyed with the ends of her shoulder length black hair. "Yura," a voice from the open-doored office behind her called. The young secretary turned to look at her boss. 

"Yes, Miss Nitao?"

"Can you forward my messages to my cell?" the editor requested. "I'm expected in a meeting and I don't know how long I'll be."

"No problem, boss lady," Yura smiled, happily going about her job again.

Kagura smirked and shook her head. She didn't know why, but she liked Yura and her quirky sense of humor. Kagura had always liked to surround herself with unique people, which was why she was so happy to hire Kagome and Sango--both of whom were completely insane. 

Now, she was not going to see a person she wanted to see, or even a person she liked, or even a person she tolerated. Right now she was about to meet the devil incarnate, the devil himself even. The most vile creature she had ever laid eyes on. The most cunning and ruthless male she had ever known in her life. The man who had stolen her heart when she was a wet-behind-the-ears freshman in college, and had never given it back to her: Sesshomaru Saishi.

Kagura paused outside the wooden doors of her boardroom for a breather. She adjusted her hair to make sure every strand was in place. She smoothed every wrinkle from her crisp business suit. She made sure she was perfect, that he saw she was perfect, and that she had not missed his presence in the least since she had walked away from him nearly five years before.

Of course, it was all an illusion, but he didn't need to know that any more than anyone else she loved needed to know. In fact, no one knew it was a lie, though Kagura expected Kagome might know--being the expert on love that she was--and Sango, because the woman was perceptive as hell.

Kagura Nitao entered the boardroom in _her_ building, in _her_ office, for the magazine _she_ created, without any help. She would make him see how she had not needed him at all over the years, and how she had carried on without a look back or a single 'what if' thought.

Sesshomaru Saishi sat at the head of the long wooden table, his suit a perfect cut of white silk, his straight silver hair perfectly maintained, his golden eyes watching every move she made. In his eyes, she had not changed in the least since he had seen her last. She moved with the same internal grace, her eyes still held that glitter of supremacy and defiance that had fueled so many fights between them. She still had the power to still his thoughts when she looked at him.

"Kagura," he said evenly. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled at hearing her name on his lips again.

"Sesshomaru," she replied. He had to control his memory from jumping into flashback overtime at the thoughts her voice brought rushing back.

"We have a problem," he continued, not letting her see the torture she inflicted on him. Even after five years. His head and his heart could never forget her.

"Yes," she agreed. Her blood ran hot, and then cold, as she sat down on the opposite side of the table from him. "Your brother. My writer."

"The scandal could ruin us both," he explained. "I received a call this morning from one of my more free-ranging journalists. He informed me that my brother had gotten married over the weekend, in Atlantic City, to one Kagome Higurashi."

"She wants an annulment as soon as possible," Kagura said seriously. 

"That could prove a quandary for you," Sesshomaru observed.

"That is not your concern," she replied icily. "You will deal with your brother and I will deal with Kagome. Hopefully, our paths will not cross again over this issue." With that, she stood and Sesshomaru followed her example. He'd never guess she was dying.

"Agreed," he replied distantly. "Have a good day."

"You too." They exited together and walked in two different directions as if they were polite strangers. They parted ways the same way they had five years ago. They felt the same as they had five years ago. Five years made them older, but not wiser, at least when it came to the heart. Putting distance between one another was the only way to ensure strength, to guarantee survival, to protect against future hurt.

Love didn't always guarantee a happy ending. 


	3. Chapter 3: To Err is Human

A/N: Okay, here is chapter three. Thanks so much for all the reviews, and I have a few comments I would like to address before getting into the chapter, so bear with me, ok?

Drake220: There is a big difference of being told you have to do something, and coming to the conclusion yourself. I hope you'll still read the story if my plot line is not the most off-the-wall thing there is, but this is the way I planned to write it. No, I would never write Kagura or Sango to force Kagome to do anything that stupid. Neither of them would be that way, and I don't feel like making them that retarded. The actions taken, are undertaken by free will.

Eadha Ohn: I haven't seen or heard anything about a movie with a plot like mine, though people have been telling me it's like Laws of Attraction. I admit it! That movie helped me decide on part of my plot line, but the rest came from my mind!

Xol: There will only be a mention of Kikyo--she is not a title character. As for Rin, I have not yet decided if I will give her an appearance in here or not. I'd say probably not, but if the Rin-lovers come up in arms, I think I can swing a part for her.

That's about all, Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any such hotness as Inuyasha. Instead, I own a toaster. It is not much, but I named it Frank.

Breaking the Rules

Chapter 3: To Err is Human

Kagome's POV

There come times in every person's life where they'd love to just crawl under a rock and die. I guess this was the time that it was most intense for me. I was forced to face the truth that I might have single handedly have destroyed a magazine empire in one night of drunken disorderliness. Worst of all, I might have let down my friends.

I was not proud of myself in any way, shape or form on this issue. In fact, it made me sick to my stomach thinking about how badly I had screwed up, and, believe me, I had screwed up pretty bad in the past. My record, when it came to blowing things, is pretty long and diverse, but usually it only hurt myself. Never, in all of my blunders, had I pulled so many other people down with me.

Now I was faced with a decision, one that no one else could make for me. I could sacrifice my dignity and pride in hopes of salvaging what was left of my friends' careers. The answer for me was simple, but the real question was, would Inuyasha help me?

* * *

When Kagome opened the door to her kitchen, her hands were shaking again and her head felt light. She had spent the past fifteen minutes standing in the silent, vacant hallway just listening to the little voices in her head. She had discarded her glasses because she no longer felt intelligent.

Kagome had come to the conclusion that, despite what it might cause her reputation or career, she would do whatever it took to save the magazine and the friends she had who called it home.

All she had to do now was convince her husband to go along with it.

Said husband was sitting in one of the chairs at her kitchen table, her obese cat in his lap, stroking Buyo's ears in a slow motion, making the cat purr happily with his eyes closed. It was a rather calming scene that made half of Kagome's fears disappear temporarily.

For a minute, she stood in the doorway watching him. Inuyasha continued, seemingly oblivious to her, as he continued his petting of her cat. "How'd it go?" he asked, without looking up.

Kagome was startled out of her reverie. Suddenly, her fears compounded again, as she pulled up a chair across from him. "Bad," she replied.

Inuyasha looked up, gold eyes settling on midnight blue. "Tell me about it."

Kagome ran her hands through her hair and sighed, before laughing a little ironically. "I guarantee by tomorrow, the entire city of New York will know we're married."

"It could be worse," Inuyasha rationalized. To him, it wasn't all that bad being married to a highly attractive if somewhat high strung writer.

Kagome looked at him, a smile on her lips and a question in her eyes. "You'd better tell me."

"You could have ended up married to a loser instead of a stunning specimen like myself."

Kagome snorted, looking at him in disbelief. It felt good to laugh and she was thankful for his efforts. In fact, she felt herself calming. For some reason, she knew Inuyasha was responsible for that.

"Thanks," she said with a smile.

"For a weak joke?"

"For not being a total loser. There are a lot of people who could have and would have treated our... unique situation much differently."

He shrugged. "I'm not a bad guy," he explained.

"Yeah," Kagome admitted. "I guess not." That was when she decided to make her move. "And since we're on the subject, might I broach you with a deal?"

"Deal?" One eyebrow arched in interest as he surveyed the petite beauty. She leaned across the table, resting her elbows on the counter as midnight eyes gauged his reaction. Her nerves were on end, and her heart was in her throat, but her mind was calm. She knew what she had to do.

"The endorsement people are only going to be in New York for the next three weeks," she said slowly.

"Yeah," he agreed with a nod, eyes narrowed. He got the feeling he was not going to like whatever she was about to ask.

"If I can convince them to give us this sponsorship, Kagura would never have to worry about anything again. She took such a chance on me, and I've screwed up so many times in my life," she paused, collecting her thoughts before taking the plunge. "I would do _anything_ to get this for her."

"What do you want me to do, exactly?" Inuyasha asked, shooing the cat off his lap and leaning forward to rest on his hands.

"Could we wait and get the annulment? Just until after the sponsors leave."

"I guess," he conceded. "But I sense this is not all you want to ask me."

"No," Kagome agreed, shaking her head. "I was also hoping that you might help me with getting this endorsement."

"Please don't tell me I have to pretend to be a loving husband and that we are the perfect couple... " He stated flatly.

"I wouldn't ask you to pretend anything," Kagome said seriously. "All I ask is that you go to a few interviews with me, answer a couple questions, and not tell anyone that we got married over a bottle of vodka."

Inuyasha was silent for a few moments, his long fingers running over the form of Buyo as he sat comfortably on the tabletop. There was a sort of stare down between the two that Kagome willingly lost in hopes of convincing sincerity.

"I suppose I could do that," he said at last. "Just as long as I don't have to do anything that would come back later to bite me in the ass."

"I swear I'll do everything I can to keep them off of you," Kagome said, biting her bottom lip to keep from bursting into happy and relieved tears. As it was, she was grinning like a maniac. "I don't think I could ever thank you enough for this."

"Don't thank me yet," he said with a smirk. "You haven't heard my conditions."

That made Kagome's blood freeze. She looked at him with narrowed eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "What are those, precisely?"

"We are to appear married, aren't we?" he asked, a hint of cocky amusement in his voice.

"I'm not going to sleep with you," she stated outright. "Not even for my friends."

"Damn, there goes my evil plans," he joked with a snap of his fingers. Kagome was not amused, and glared at him. Inuyasha only looked at her seriously. "I would _never_ force a woman to sleep with me. I thought we established I was a nice guy, not a pervert!" As an afterthought he added, "That would be my psychotic ex-roommate."

"Then what do you want?" Kagome asked warily. He was a nice guy, granted, but she didn't trust him. Not yet.

"Well, to be married, we'll have to play the part. That would involve us sharing a residence, wouldn't it?" He smiled easily, confidently, like a cat who had cornered a mouse.

He cornered a fox, Kagome thought. _And a cornered fox shows her teeth._ "Okay, we'll play the part. Where do you propose? Would my place work?"

He shook his head. "No, it's too small and too far from the hospital where I work."

Kagome's eyes lit up. "I forgot you were a doctor!" she declared. "ER right?"

"Not so drunk that you forgot that, eh?" he joked.

Kagome blushed prettily. "It's my job to pay attention to detail. And I watch ER on television, so I find medicine fascinating."

"Why aren't you a doctor then?" Inuyasha challenged.

"No patience, no talent, and no money," she stated easily. "I'm a writer now and forever."

"Well, madam writer," he joked. "Do you think you could be packed and ready to come to my place by tomorrow?"

"I think I could manage," she muttered, looking around her kitchen fondly. "You'll need to give me your address."

Inuyasha grabbed a small piece of paper from her counter-- the bottom of her grocery list-- and whipped a pen out from his pocket. When he saw her eyeing him, he grinned easily at her. "I'm a doctor. It's law for us to have a pen at all times." Kagome only shook her head, a little in shock for all that was going on around her. "Here," he declared while handing her the paper.

"What time should I be there?"

"Anytime you want. I'll leave the spare key for you under the mat."

"You do have a spare bedroom, right?"

He looked at her for a moment, as if not understanding the question, then shook his head to clear it. "Yeah, I've got a spare room. But I do have to tell you Kagome," he said with a smirk. "I've already seen all there is to see."

"And you say you're not a pervert?!" Kagome raged, punching him squarely in the shoulder. Inuyasha only laughed and headed toward the door. She noticed the cocky bounce in his step. "You know, you'll probably regret this arrangement before this thing is over."

"What makes you say that?" he asked, turning to look her in the eye when he reached the door. There was humor in his gaze, and an innocence to her ways that made Kagome feel almost sad. For some reason, though she couldn't for the life of her understand why, she didn't want him to think of her as the basket case everyone else did.

"I'm quirky," she said simply, a small frown playing on her face. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Right you are," he smirked again, opening the door behind him and turning to go. Then he stopped and looked back to her with a cocked eyebrow. "Let me ask you something before I go."

"Shoot."

"Would you get to know me while we're married, or is this a simple business arrangement?"

Kagome snorted. "I don't think it's possible to live with someone and not want to know them," she stated honestly.

He liked her answer and his smirk turned into a genuine smile. That was when she did something that surprised him. Kagome, who had seemed to be a little uncomfortable and a little edgy, leaned forward the foot or so that separated them, bringing herself up as high as a woman of five feet could go, and dragged his mouth to hers.

It was a surprising act, true, but it didn't take him long to fall into it. It wasn't an intense kiss, but it still sent heat coursing through both their veins. Kagome tried to keep it simple, a gentle and tentative kiss of gratitude. It didn't take long until the feel of Inuyasha's lip on hers caused those intentions to flee. If there was one thing she could say about her new husband, was that he was one hell of a kisser. If asked, Inuyasha would say that she wasn't so bad herself.

It wasn't a long kiss because the door was open and Kagome had rather nosy neighbors. With reluctance on both ends, she pulled back and ran her tongue over her bottom lip. Inuyasha wished he could kiss her again because of that simple action, but he thought it best to quell the thought. It was enough that he had to have a hard on while attempting to hail a cab home.

"Thanks," she said, her voice a pitch lower than normal and her eyes a little cloudy. "For what you're doing for me."

"Anytime," he commented, and he meant it. That's when he left, or risk something else happening that they would both regret.

Kagome pulled herself out of some rather dirty thoughts and forced herself to calmly walk to her bedroom. She would be spending three weeks in a strange apartment with a man who was practically a stranger himself. For a moment, she snorted and smirked. This was just the kind of scenario she would have dreamed up and killed for in high school. A tall, sexy stranger coming to whisk her away from her boring little life and into some foreign adventure.

"Only in your dreams, Kagome," she told herself firmly. The suitcase she had used for her trip to Atlantic City was still sitting in the corner, waiting to be packed back up in her closet. For once, she was happy about being so lazy.

First things came first, which would be the little matter of moving some of her things. She knew just the person to entrap in her scheme. Grabbing the phone from her bedside table, Kagome dialed the number by heart and waited until her little brother answered the phone.

Shippou answered on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Shippou, it's Kagome."

"Kags, how are you?" the young man squeaked. He was only a high school freshman, one of Souta's two roommates, and one of the sweetest boys Kagome had ever met.

"I could be better, but it's a long story. Listen, is my brother there?"

"Yeah, he's brooding over something or other. Hold on."

There was the sound of muffled voices and scuffing. Finally the phone was shoved into a new hand and Kagome heard Souta let loose a few choice words. "What?"

"You kiss our mother with that mouth?" Kagome frowned.

"If you called to lecture me I'm hanging up," he threatened, annoyed.

"Little brother, I never thought I would be saying this," Kagome stated bluntly. "But I need your help, and it's not watching the cat."

Souta recognized the note in her voice and immediately became serious. "Tell me."

And she did, explaining from the beginning to the end and everything in between. When she finished, Kagome was a few seconds from tears and her brother still had not replied.

"I made a real mess of things, didn't I?" she asked in a small voice.

"It's going to be okay, Kagome," Souta assured her with the blind faith that only a sibling could deliver. "I'll help you in any way you need it. Name it and I'm there."

"Do you think you and the boys could help me move some things tomorrow?" she asked, attempting to calm herself by massaging her closed eyelids.

"It'll have to be after three, we've all got class until then."

"No problem," Kagome assured him. "I'm not dragging myself out of bed until at least two." There was a small chuckled between them. "Souta?"

"Yeah, Sis?"

"Thanks."

Souta smiled to himself, content with that warm feeling one got when rescuing his troubled older sister. "You're welcome, Kags."

* * *

"Come on, come on! Put your backs into it!" Kagome yelled, standing at the top of the stairs, dictating movements made by the three college students at her beck and call.

Shippou, the small redhead who had bright green eyes and a tendency for pranks, nearly fell down the stairs while lugging up a large brown box of Kagome's belongings. The stairs in Inuyasha's apartment building were steep, but that was to be expected in a place where most people relied on the elevator.

Inuyasha's building was huge, clean, and well maintained. It was just what she expected from the younger of the Saishi brothers. A call from Sango the night before had caught her up to speed on the situation at the magazine, and informed the publicist of what was going on with the writer and the doctor.

Kohaku, Sango's younger brother and Souta's other roommate, was a year shy of graduating from college. He shared the same coloring as his sister, except with brown eyes and a gentler personality. He trailed Shippou coming up the stairs, pulling her wheeled suitcase up the steps by the handle.

Souta, disheveled and last, carried Buyo in his carrying case. The cat in question was meowing loudly. His obese nature made it difficult for Souta to get good balance while carrying the case, and he glared daggers at his sister.

Kagome smirked at them teasingly, then walked back to Inuyasha's apartment--15E, third door on the fifth floor. Inuyasha had made an understatement when he said her apartment was small. Compared to his, Kagome's cozy flat was nothing short of a closet. The rooms were large and airy, sparsely furnished but elegantly designed.

He had also neglected to inform her that he owned a dog. When she had first opened the door, the huge Shepard-husky mix had bounded at her from the bedroom and leapt on to her shoulders. The weight caused her to stagger back into the hallway, and she had been startled but not afraid as a long pink tongue assaulted her face. The dog, whose collar declared the dog's name Jewel, was solid white and stared up at Kagome with eyes as gold as her master's.

At first, Kagome was a little afraid that Buyo might be in danger from a large dog, but after a while she saw that the Jewel was easy-going and friendly. Since Buyo happily thought himself a dog, they would get along fine.

"Right in here, boys," Kagome laughed, holding the door open as the three college students grudgingly made their way inside.

"You're a slave driver, Kags," Shippou whined.

The writer cackled evilly as she kissed him on the cheek happily and pantomimed cracking a whip. "Oh Shippou, you make me laugh!"

He grumbled a little under his breath as Kohaku placed the suitcase inside the door and grabbed the box from Shippou's arms. "Weakling," he mocked.

Shippou bristled and huffed out of the apartment to grab the last box from the bottom of the stairs where the doorman was watching it. "Where do you want this box, Kagome?"

"Over in that corner, 'Haku." Once Shippou returned, the three boys were a flurry of action with Kagome telling them where to put things. She discovered the spare bedroom easily enough, all white and pale green with no decoration adoring it at all. She would change all that, but first she would attend to dinner. "You three plan on staying for dinner, right?"

"Dinner?" Shippou asked, pausing mid-decoration. Kohaku did the same, both boys perking like dogs that'd just scented a rabbit. Suddenly, they both pounced near Souta.

"Can we stay, Souta, can we?" Kohaku begged his friend. Both he and Shippou went on bended knee before Souta, pouting their lips and welling their eyes for just the right hint of pathetic sympathy.

"I'm making your favorite," Kagome added from the kitchen. She knew just how to work her little brother better than anyone else.

"You mean..." Souta stuttered, pausing to drool. "Ramen surprise?"

"Ramen surprise," his sister confirmed.

"Hells yeah, we're staying!" The boys cheered. Kagome laughed. Things were unpacked and a dinner was made.

* * *

There were some days that Inuyasha just hated being a doctor.

Of course, the majority of his days were spent loving his job. He loved helping people, loved knowing that he had the power to save the lives of others. He knew he couldn't save everyone, that sometimes patients just died and it reflected none of his skill as a doctor, but there were other times that he just knew that a life would have been lost had it not been for him.

As a child, he had possessed what his father loved to call a sick obsession with death. Natural disasters, wars, mass murders, genocide, everything from Hitler to Manson and back again. Both his older brother and his father had been repulsed by his fascination, thinking him some kind of morbid creature. His mother had never felt that way.

She was the reason Inuyasha had his fixation on death. And it wasn't death itself that he was so intrigued by, it was his mission to try and find a way to defeat it. Inuyasha had made a promise to himself that he would study death in every way, shape, and form so that when he met it, he could fight and win.

He had been a child then, and looked at the world differently than any adult. The reason he wanted to fight death was for his mother. Since he was older enough to truly understand what it meant, Inuyasha was aware that his mother was dying. At the time he didn't know how or why, he just knew that she was so he wanted to do anything he could to save her.

In the end, death won. That was when Inuyasha decided to be a doctor, and he had never regretted it. He helped others cheat death every day, and it made a little of the pain in his heart go away.

Today had been one of the bad days. The full moons always brought out the most people, and it was no acceptation on this moon. He had treated everything from strep throat to athlete's foot and back again. Inuyasha was tired, he was cranky, and he totally forgot the fact that there was a woman waiting in his apartment.

He found it strange that his door was unlocked. He found it odd that Jewel didn't come streaking to greet him when he walked it. Most of all, he narrowed his eyes when he heard the sound of laughing coming from his kitchen.

"I'm telling you, Lassie had Spidey sense. How else could she know Timmy was always trapped in a well?" a man's voice spoke over the others.

"That doesn't make her a superhero," a second voice laughed. "That would be like saying Mister Ed could fight crime by yelling 'Wilbur!'"

"What I want to know," a third male voice commented, and it sounded as if his mouth was full at the time. "Why do all of these reclusive male superheroes have young boy sidekicks? I mean, what _really_ goes on in the Bat cave when no one is around?"

"I feel sorry for Speedy," a female voice answered that. Inuyasha stopped in his tracks, two second from pouncing in the kitchen with a poker from the fireplace in his hand. That sounded like Kagome.

"Speedy?"

"Yeah, the little sidekick to the Green Arrow? I mean, couldn't they come up with a better name? And what about Robin! Isn't it bad enough that his parents were carnie folk, and killed by a madman? Why did they have to name him Dick? Couldn't they just call him Richard?"

Yes, that was Kagome. No doubt was in his mind. Her words brought about another round of laughter from the three men and Inuyasha tossed his poker on to the couch before opening the door and stepping inside.

Kagome was seating on the counter of the island in the middle of his kitchen, a bowl in her lap and chopsticks a few inches from her lips. Seated at the small table in front of her were three young men, all stuffing their faces full of noodles and choking with laughter. She spotted him first.

Kagome was startled to see him at first. She had not heard him come in. The look on his face, however, was so bewildered and hesitant that it was priceless. Hopping off the counter and putting down her food, she ran over to him and smiled. "Welcome home, my husband."

Inuyasha blinked at her, but found her smile to be infectious. For some reason, she seemed so much happier today than she had when he spoke with her the day before. Maybe it was the three boys now looking at him. Maybe it was the ramen. Whatever it was, Inuyasha admitted to himself that happy Kagome was a lot prettier than desperate Kagome.

"Hi," was his oh-so-intelligent reply. Kagome grabbed him, pulling him inside the kitchen.

"You must meet the trio," she declared as she tugged him along behind her.

"Ok," he said, not really seeing another option. They stopped short in front of the table where Kagome promptly grinned and began introductions.

"Boys, this is Inuyasha," Kagome said in a dignified voice. The three boys waved up at him, noodles hanging from their mouths. She rolled her eyes before turning back to her confused and adorable spouse. "Inuyasha, this is Shippou Kitsune," she paused to point to the small redhead. "Kohaku Rae." She paused long enough to add, "Sango's younger brother," before moving on to the last--and most important--introduction. "And this is Souta, my little brother."

Souta got to his feet and held out his hand. Inuyasha shook it with a nod, understanding the importance of Kagome's brother accepting this introduction. He was surprised by how much the two Higurashis looked alike. Although Souta had brown eyes instead of Kagome's blue, they had the same thick black hair and fair skin. There was evidence in their facial features as well that made it clear that they could be nothing short of siblings.

"Nice to meet you," Souta commented politely. "It's really great of you, what you're doing for my sister and all." Inuyasha looked to Kagome for conformation.

"They know," she said with a nod. "I needed them for cheap labor when I brought my stuff over."

That was met by a shout of, "Slave driver!" from the three boys.

"We should get going back home, Sis," Souta said, turning back to Kagome. "Shippou and I have work tonight."

"Sure, I'll call you tomorrow."

"Thanks for dinner, Kags," Shippou smiled, hugging her loosely around the shoulders. "We'll see you on Saturday, right?"

"Wouldn't miss it!" she laughed, waving them off as the three boys exited. With a happy sigh, she began cleaning up the mess they left behind. Inuyasha, who had watched the exchange, just watched her now.

"What's Saturday?" he asked.

"Professional wrestling on pay-per-view," Kagome laughed. "We always buy Smack down, or whatever big match is playing and stay up late eating junk food. It's a kind of ritual."

"You seem very close to them," he observed, watching her take the dishes to the sink and begin filling it with hot, soapy water.

"I was always a tomboy growing up," she explained. "Everything from action movies to kung fu to professional wrestling. All I have is a little brother, and though we fought like cats and dogs when we were little, I always made the effort to stay close to him."

Inuyasha listened as he sniffed around the kitchen, stomach growing at the delicious scents assaulting his nose. When Kagome saw him lifting the lids off of pots on the stove, she laughed and handed him an empty bowl.

"I cooked dinner, as a thank you to the guys for helping me. There's still some left on the stove, the back burner."

Inuyasha's mouth watered as he grabbed the bowl and some chopsticks. "What did you make?"

"I call it Ramen Surprise," she explained. "Basically just ramen with a bunch of meat and vegetables thrown in. Souta loves it."

"Did... you just say... ramen?" Inuyasha said, openly staring at her.

Kagome looked at him as a startling thought dawned on her. "Do you not like ramen? I didn't even think to ask you... I just have this thing for the noodle family. College was heaven for me since you live off the stuff but if you don't like it, I could make you something else if you like."

She was stunned into silence when Inuyasha walked up and firmly kissed her on the mouth. It was quick and hard, and sent Kagome's blood roaring in her ears when he pulled back. Never had she been a fool enough to get weak in the knees by a simple kiss, but now she felt that if she wasn't in soapy water up to the elbow, she would have fallen to the floor. As it was, she swayed a little.

Inuyasha smiled easily at her before turning back to the stove. "You know," he commented. "You're going to make some guy very lucky one day, but as of right now, that guy is me." When he located the pot with the food, he happily poured what was left of her concoction into his bowl with a few breathy sounds of delight. "My kingdom for ramen," he said, watching the golden noodles pile high in his dish. "You are officially the best wife I have ever had."

She snorted. "How many of those have you had?"

Inuyasha pretended that he had to think long on that. "Just you."

"Then thanks," she commented, grabbing the empty pot from his hands and dumping it in the water to wash.

Inuyasha situated himself on the island as she had down early, to watch and talk while he ate. "You do realize I have a dish washer?"

"I know," Kagome said cheerily. "I used to have to wash dishes every night at my house growing up. It was my job. Now, even though I have a dishwasher too, when I don't feel all that lazy, I enjoy a little washing of the dish."

"Heh, you'd never catch me doing that," he scoffed, stuffing his face on noodles.

"Well, you're a guy," Kagome retorted. "Can't expect you to understand."

"I didn't say I don't understand," he commented. "I just said I'd never do it. I'm not a dishwasher. I'm a dog walker."

"Dog walker?" Kagome asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

"When I was a kid," Inuyasha explained. "My dad would never give me money for movies or anything he thought was frivolous, so I'd walked the dogs of people in my building for money. Of course now I have all I need, so I do it for free."

"You walk other people's dogs?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "I'm a dog person. I'm good with all kinds of animals, but dogs are my favorite." Blinking, he looked back up at her. "On that thought, where is my dog?"

"Jewel? Last I saw she was curled up in my new room with Buyo."

"You brought the cat here?" Inuyasha asked dubiously.

"I couldn't leave him at home," she responded. "And they don't allow pets in Souta's building. Plus, he gets along well with Jewel."

"Everyone gets along with Jewel," Inuyasha complained.

"Then there's no problem for my kitty," she said with finality and a nod. As if summoned by their words, both Buyo and Jewel ran into the kitchen at that very moment.

Jewel took a moment to sniff out Inuyasha, seated on the island, before barking crazily and jumping on his legs. Inuyasha held out a fist and closed it while she was watching. "Finish." Jewel stopped barking and sat quietly at his feet. Her master hopped up from his seat and scratched her ears. "Good girl."

"That was clever," Kagome complimented, putting the last of the dishes in the draining rack and letting the water drain from the sink. "I wish Buyo could be trained."

"Cats are too stubborn," he teased. "Dogs are smarter, aren't they Jewel?" The dog barked in reply.

Kagome only shook her head. "We have a lot to go over while I'm living here," she commented, grabbing Buyo in her arms as she walked. Inuyasha, Jewel at his heels, followed.

"Such as?"

"No mocking my cat, for one," she responded. "Another thing, I mostly work at home. I only have to go to the office once or twice a week, so I'm going to have to set up a little work area somewhere for myself. Good lighting and comfortable seat is required."

"She's so demanding," Inuyasha commented to his dog.

"And finally," Kagome said, as if he hadn't interrupted at all. "I set up my stereo in the guest room. I'll keep it on low, but I have to have it playing all night. If that's a problem, tell me now."

"Why do you need a stereo running all night?" he asked quizzically. The walls separating his room from hers were pretty thin, but he doubted she'd be playing Metallica in the dead of night.

"I get nightmares," she commented flatly. It was clearly not something she wanted to get into. "I just need to play it."

Inuyasha held up his hands in defeat. "Just know that I am annoying," he commented. "I work graveyard shifts at the hospital at least twice a week because... well, no one else will. When I am home, I will bug the hell out of you."

"Of that I have no doubt," she responded with a smile.

"You'll have to warn me when you have people over," he said seriously. "I don't want to walk home, dead to the world, and have to entertain."

"I don't entertain many people," she assured him. "It's mostly just the three boys when they aren't working or at school, or Sango and Kagura, when they aren't working or out doing other things."

"Like Miroku?" Inuyasha commented.

"Or gambling," she said with a wry smile. "Kagura likes to 'play the ponies'."

"Then let her play," Inuyasha said with a shrug.

"I think that's everything," Kagome nodded, looking to him with a smile. Inuyasha smiled back. The plan was in effect and so far things were going fairly well. But both of them were subconsciously waiting for the first anvil to fall.

* * *

Sesshomaru walked toward his office. Her rubbed the back of his neck, happily delighted when it cracked and offered him a little relief from its stiffness. Four hours of a board meeting that left them no better off than they were in the first place, which left him feeling more than a little sore. Mostly he was just hungry.

Jaken, his personal assistant, sat at his little wood desk sorting messages and answering phones. Normally, such a person was a secretary, but Sesshomaru refused to call the small man as such. It would just give rise to more rumors about his sexuality that he didn't need.

Maybe it was normal for a thirty two year old man to be single, but when you were handsome as sin and as rich as Bill Gates, and didn't have a new woman every night, you had to be gay. There was no if, ands, or buts. To everyone in his office and everyone who knew the smallest bit of his life, Sesshomaru Saishi was gay and there was not one thing he could do to change it. Except get a girlfriend. That would involve dating, which he had no time for. Oh, and there was still that little fact that he was madly in love with a woman who hated him.

"Jaken," Sesshomaru commented in a flat voice as he paused at his assistant's desk. "Do I have any new messages?"

"Publishing needs to order a new copier," the small man read off. "The photographers are threatening to strike if they don't get a raise. Oh, and you had a personal call regarding the situation with your brother--"

"Save it," Sesshomaru cut him off, bringing a hand to massage his temple. "I'll deal with all that tomorrow. Right now, I am going to dinner and nothing in hell can stop me." With that, he turned and headed toward the frost glass doors leading into his small office.

"Um, Sesshomaru sir, there's--" the door closed behind him before Jaken could finish. "Someone waiting in your office." The small male secretary sighed. "Oh well, maybe some good will come of this."

Sesshomaru liked the quiet of his private office--very neat, very quiet, and very elegant, just like he was. With a small sigh that one gave after the end to a long day, he crossed the carpeted room to get his coat from where it hung on the rack next to his desk. As he walked, he saw his large black leather chair swivel. That was when Sesshomaru noticed who sat behind his desk.

"You never returned my call," Kagura commented, happily leaning back in his chair. Her ruby eyes lighted on his figure with a smugness he always found annoying when he was tired.

"I had a meeting," he responded sourly. Not only had he felt a thrill of undiluted happiness at seeing her in his office, in his chair, with a smile, he also had to fight down the urge to smile back at her, and that he just could not stand. "How did you get in here?" he asked with narrowed gold eyes.

"Jaken let me in once I kept bothering him," she responded easily, still lounging in his chair. "I swear you should give that man a raise for all he puts up with. I still think you'll give him a stroke with the workload."

"The personal assistant to an editor has a large workload," Sesshomaru commented while grabbing his coat off the rack.

"Just call the man a secretary," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "You always make things so difficult."

"As I recall, that was what you liked most about me," he responded casually.

Kagura winced a little. "No fair, throwing past confidences at me now," she snapped.

"As much as I'd adore to continue this conversation," Sesshomaru intoned. "What do you want?"

"Right to the heart of the matter," Kagura smirked. "Well, in case Inuyasha failed to tell you, he and Kagome have worked out some little _plan_ in which they are going to remain married for the duration of a business interaction."

"You allow this?"

"If you knew anything about Kagome," Kagura chuckled a little. "You'd know that no one _allows_ her to do anything. She does what the fuck she wants whenever she fucking wants to."

"The same goes for my little brother," Sesshomaru agreed. "Perhaps they might kill each other off so we no longer have to deal with their stupidity."

"One can only hope," she responded with a smile, ruby eyes meeting gold for a brief moment of shared humor. That's when she remembered who she was looking at and why, and Kagura turned her eyes away. "We should arrange something, in order to keep them from doing anything else stupid that might put our businesses in danger."

"Come to dinner with me," Sesshomaru said. Kagura blinked, looking up at him in a confused manner.

"What?"

"I'm on my way to grab some dinner," he explained. "Come with me and we can talk while I eat."

"We'll both eat," she nodded, pushing herself out of his chair and adjusting her jacket. "I haven't had any dinner and I could eat a horse." As she walked past him to the door, she didn't see the small smile that Sesshomaru allowed himself while he back was turned. It was like old times. They would argue, they would eat something, argue again and end up in bed later.

He frowned suddenly, watching her leave. It wasn't old times anymore, though, and he had to constant remind himself that she was no longer fair game. And from his thoughts in the short time since he had been in contact with her again, he predicted that to be a very difficult thing indeed.

A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews I've been getting for this story! You guys make it all worth while, and I really love reading your comments. And though I do adore the messages where everyone yells at me to update and tells me how much they love my writing, I also love the ones where people ask me questions or tell me their opinion. Remember my beloved readers, I'm writing this story for you and your opinions matter! Please remember to review, hehe!


	4. Chapter 4: Dreams and Nightmares

A/N: Wow! I am totally blown away by all these reviews from you! Man, I can not express the love I have for all of you, my readers. You totally give me confidence in my writing. A few things to address before getting into the chapter, so bare with me.

**Brlousee**: I can see Inuyasha with short hair--just imagine all of his hair was the same length as his two dragon tails. And Jewel was my way of a play on the Shikon no Tama.

**BlueEyes7**: I think Inuyasha could be understand. You must remember that in this story he is around the age of 28 or 29, so he's a lot more mature than he really is. I mean, with all the things he's gone through when he was young, he would be a pretty open-minded guy once he grows up, don't you think?

Okay, that's all for right now. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. He is something I manipulate to suit my means, then leave on the street like an empty soda can.

Breaking the Rules

Chapter 4: Dreams and Nightmares

Kagome's PoV

Life moves very fast, and I will quote Ferris Bueler by saying that if you don't stop and look around every once in a while, it might pass you by. That's what my life suddenly felt like when I moved in with Inuyasha. My life was moving faster than I could see.

I have always been a very independent person. I work alone and live alone-- apart from Buyo-- and I have always been introverted with my feelings. The only person I ever felt truly comfortable being myself around was my father, but he has been dead since I was fifteen. I could smile and laugh and act normal around my brother and his friends, around Sango and Kagura, but I am always hiding that little bit of self-consciousness that I can say or do the wrong thing.

Inuyasha seemed to intensify that self-consciousness one moment, and make me feel at ease the next. It confuses me; he confuses me. I have always prided myself on being able to read a person very well, but I couldn't file Inuyasha away into a box like I could with everyone else. I told myself that it was because I didn't know him well enough yet to do that.

There was one thing I wasn't confused about, and that was my attraction to him. I'm not the kind of woman who sleeps around, of that I am sure you can tell by now. Maybe it's a fear of commitment, or intimacy, or any of that jargon I dole out to my readers. I can analyze others, but never myself. Regardless of my issues when it comes to the opposite sex, I can't deny the fact that I love the way he kisses me, especially when I'm not expecting it.

Maybe I missed the affection I used to get at home. My family was always close and affectionate and since I left home the most affection I had was from my last boyfriend--four years ago. Inuyasha seemed like one of those people who would work you up and let you down very slowly, just the kind of guy I had always been attracted to. It was little wonder I wanted to be around him. It was a bigger wonder why he wanted to be around me.

* * *

Sango sat at her desk, impatiently tapping the eraser of her pencil against her desk. She looked across the hall from her open-doored office and saw the desk in view conveniently vacant. Kagome hadn't been into work once since the incident, and two phone calls was all Sango had gotten on the subject. It annoyed her, frightened her, but most of all it worried her. Kagome was not the impulsive kind, yet she was doing a lot of out of character things lately.

It seemed the same with Kagura, who had been absent from the office frequently over the past few days. When the publicist asked, all she was got a business excuse. Sango felt in the dark, even though Kohaku had called her after helping Kagome move in and said that she was fine.

As it was, the entire office knew about Kagome's situation, and it was the same throughout the city. It had been on the news, right after the airing of Kagome's interview on 'The Street Beat'. Every once in a while, one of the office employees would walk slowly past her open door and hope to eavesdrop on a conversation between Sango and Kagome.

It was beginning to get on her nerves. Sango gripped the pencil in her hand so hard it cracked and broke in half, and the vein in her forehead began to throb. When her lunch break came around, Kagome was going to get a visit.

Just as Sango began fantasizing about all the things she would do when she got her hands on Kagome, the phone on her desk began to ring. She grinned a little dangerously when she brought the phone to her ear. "Sango Rae," she answered.

"Sango, dear," a warm voice greeted her. "This is Mrs. Higurashi."

''Hello, Mrs. H," Sango greeted politely. Sango had met Kagome's family on all of their trips to the city. Both Kagome's mother and grandfather were wonderful people, and Sango loved them both. "What can I do for you?"

Mrs. Higurashi's voice suddenly became flatter and edged. "Have you spoken to my daughter recently?"

Busted, Sango grimaced. She cleared her throat and smiled into the phone, all polite subterfuge. "I talked to her yesterday, but she's not going to be in work until Friday," Sango explained, all true. There was no way she'd lie to this kind woman.

"Is it true?" Mrs. Higurashi asked, cutting right to the point.

Sango balked. She wasn't sure if this was her place to really begin explaining things. This was something that should come from Kagome. "Mrs. H, you should really talk to--"

"Sango, dear," she interrupted. "If I was able to contact my daughter, I would ask her. As it is, all I can get is her voice mail."

"She's changed her number," Sango embellished. Well, Kagome _was_ using Inuyasha's number while living with him.

"Sango." There it was-- the mother voice-- the one that no woman, grown or small, could dare lie to.

"You really should talk to Kagome about this, Mrs. H," Sango sighed. "If I could tell you, I would. You know I would. But as Kagome's friend, this is really an issue you should talk to your daughter about."

"Just tell me if it's true," Mrs. Higurashi pleaded. "I need to know."

Sango sighed deeply and breathed her answer. "It's true."

"She...got married?" Mrs. Higurashi sounded equally amazed and horrified. "I can't believe Kagome would do something so irresponsible. So irrational!" There was a pause before Kagome's mother laughed. "She actually did something romantic."

Sango smirked and had to cover a laugh. If there was something to be said about the Higurashi family-- they were all insane. "I'll tell her to call you tonight, would that be ok?"

"That would be wonderful. Thank you, Sango."

"Of course, Mrs. H."

"So tell me dear," Mrs. Higurashi hinted slyly. "How are things with you and your dashing boyfriend?"

Sango blushed. It was sweet actually, and made Sango feel like part of a family again. Both of her parents had been dead since she was in college, leaving her to care for Kohaku. Since meeting Kagome and her quirky family, Sango and Kohaku had felt the same protective warmth that came with being part of a family.

"We're doing just fine, Mrs. H. Next time you come to the city, I'll bring him to dinner."

"Oh, Kagome promised to come visit us this time," Mrs. Higurashi laughed. "But you are welcome to bring him along when you come as well. I expect you and your brother to come along with my daughter."

Kagura came to Sango's doorway, knocking her knuckles against the doorframe. Sango looked up and signaled for a minute. "Mrs. H, I have to get back to work, but I'll make sure Kagome calls you tonight."

"Thank you again dear. Have a good day."

"You too." They hung up and then Sango looked up at her boss. "What can I do for you, Kagura?"

"Have you talked to her today?"

"No. She hasn't given me her new number, but I was planning on going to see her on my lunch hour."

"Skip it," Kagura ordered, fixing a few loose hairs. "We have a meeting with the endorsement people. They want to reschedule Kagome's next interview to include Inuyasha, and I have to work my magic to keep him out of it."

"You need me there because...?" Sango asked, already standing and smoothing out the wrinkles in her snappy suit.

"Appearances," Kagura said with a smirk. "You can strangle our writer afterwards."

"What will you be doing tonight?" Sango asked her conversationally. Kagura looked her over with suspicious ruby eyes.

"Why so interested?"

Sango smirked. "You've been absent a lot around the office these days Kagura. Normally, your social life is worse than Kagome's."

"At least I have an excuse for it," Kagura declared self-righteously. "I have a magazine to run, employees to handle, and sponsorships to win."

"No time for love?" Sango teased, batting her eyelashes coyly.

Kagura rolled her eyes and made to leave. "My love life is none of your business Sango, and I'd appreciate no further talk about it."

"Even when it comes to a tall, handsome editor?" Sango pressed, following after her. Kagura froze in the doorway, her shoulders ridged.

She turned slowly, her face blank as she addressed her publicist and her friend. "Whatever my feelings were, and whatever they could be, nothing will ever come of it. Sesshomaru Saishi is no longer my boyfriend, my lover, or even my friend. Any time spent in his company is regarding his brother and Kagome. Nothing else."

"If you say so," Sango said with a nod. Kagura glared, leaning closer.

"Sango, I love your work, you know. You are my friend and I care about you," Kagura said in a low voice. "But if you ever presume to tell anyone anything from my personal life, I will fire you from this company. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," Sango said, a little nervous at how cold Kagura seemed.

"I have a business dinner tonight," Kagura said, turning back. "But right now, we have a meeting."

"Yes ma'am," Sango said and followed her toward the meeting room. It was hard to believe that Kagura could go from docile to deadly in an eye blink, but love changes a person.

* * *

Kagome was a little nervous when she woke up in a new room, in a new apartment. It was only a little after seven when she got up, but Kagome was always a light sleeper. Jewel and Buyo greeted her when she stepped out of her room in a bathrobe and headed to the kitchen to make breakfast.

Inuyasha came out an hour later in a pair of flannel pants and nothing else. He rubbed his eyes, walking past her in the kitchen and did to double take. "It's too early to wake up alone and have breakfast," he commented. Kagome frowned and handed him a plate of food.

"No wise cracks, just eat," she commanded.

"Sure babe," he yawned before shoveling the food down his throat. Kagome smirked and shook her head.

"When do you go in?"

"Half an hour?"

"You better move faster than this."

"Madam, I happen to be a professional," he teased.

"If you say so," she smiled, petting the cat and dog.

He was a professional, and was showered, dressed, and ready to leave in that half an hour. Kagome had just finished her coffee and fed the pets.

"Well, my wife," Inuyasha smiled. "I'm off to work. You'll be ok until tonight?"

Kagome saluted. "I think I'll manage, chief."

Inuyasha only shook his head before grabbing her chin with his hand and placed a kiss on her mouth. Kagome smiled as he left, until she caught herself feeling fuzzy over a man and snapped back to reality. "Okay, Kagome," she laughed to herself. "Don't start falling for your husband."

She spent the better part of the morning finding her way around the apartment, and transforming Inuyasha's study into her own personal work space-- with a smile of course. She also noticed how vacant his pantry seemed to be-- apart from the shelf of instant Ramen she had pilfered the night before-- so she embarked on a trip to the nearest grocery store. Upon returning, she also brought with her a few potted plants, to give the place a lived-in feel rather than museum quality from a man barely there.

By late afternoon, she got a phone call.

"Hello?" she answered, placing her laptop aside and patting Jewel's head so she wouldn't bark.

"Call your mother," a tired voice snapped.

"Kagura?" Kagome asked, blinking. She hadn't known anyone had Inuyasha's number yet.

"Yeah, it's Kagura, but I'm calling on behave of Sango. We're stuck in a meeting so she won't be able to come by and attack you yet. Your mom called her-- and she knows about Inuyasha. So bite the bullet and call her."

"I...wasn't hiding anything, if that's what you are insinuating," Kagome denied. "I just forgot to call her." In truth, she _had_ forgotten to call her mother since she had been so preoccupied with everything going on in the city.

"Yeah, sure," Kagura laughed. Kagome forgave her-- she sounded stressed. "Listen, Kags, I have to go. Just call your mom, ok?"

"I will," she promised. "Tell San thanks from me."

"Will do. Bye."

"Uh, Kagura?" Kagome hesitantly postponed her.

"What is it Kagome?"

"How did you get this number? I haven't given it to anyone..."

Kagura paused for a moment, unsure if she should go there and give a true answer. Deciding Kagome, of all people, deserved a bit of truth, she replied honestly. "I got it from Sesshomaru."

"I didn't know you two were speaking again," Kagome commented lightly. She kept her thoughts to herself.

"Only over you and Inuyasha. You've got us in a field of paperwork, darling Kags."

Kagome winced. "I really am sorry."

"I know you are," Kagura said with a smirk in her voice. "I have to go, but I'll talk to you soon."

"Bye." And then Kagura hung up and Kagome was left wondering how she was going to tell her mother she had gotten drunk, married, and now had to stay that way for business. A headache began to form. "It's pretty late in the day now, right?" she asked the cat and dog who lay nearby. "I think it's best I call them tomorrow."

Jewel barked her agreement and Kagome took that as a good sign.

* * *

Inuyasha didn't usually put in for overtime considering he worked more shifts than any of his fellow doctors. He was the hospital's star physician, and a sort of pet to his superiors. He could charm any 'suit' that came calling at the hospital, and he was great with the patients. That was what made Inuyasha a good doctor. What made him great was his talent.

But even a great doctor gets tired of working after a twelve-hour shift, and he had been more than happy to change out of his scrubs and go home.

Like it had been the day before, Inuyasha was startled that his entrance didn't cause his loveable dog to maul him like she did every day. He shrugged out of his coat and headed toward the hallway. He could hear music playing from the back room-- his study-- the room that he never let anyone else enter. The room that was completely his.

The door was partially closed when he reached the end of the hall, but the lights were on so he slowly pushed it further. Immediately his golden gaze was drawn to Kagome seated in his favorite black leather chair with her legs tossed over the armrest and her laptop open on her stomach. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, typing in a steady rhythm. An open book was also laying against her chest, another laying on the floor, and a few others strewn about.

Inuyasha also saw that his flat-screened computer monitor was turned toward her-- so she had used the computer on his desk. Further inspection showed websites in several small boxes, waiting to be read.

He wasn't sure whether or not he should make his presence known, since Jewel and Buyo were both curled up on the floor, fast asleep. Instead, he leaned against the doorframe and watched her. Kagome was dressed in her usual-- baggy clothes, glasses on the bridge of her nose, and a baseball cap sporting the advertisement of her favorite rum. She was involved in her so work, she never even looked up at him.

"You know," she commented, pausing from typing to look down at the book in her lap. "Most people think that no research goes into writing an advice column. But the truth is, any moron can tell people what to do. It takes a lot of researching to come up with the best advice to be given to any situation."

"I see you found my study," he commented wryly.

"It has the best lighting, plus computer access." She paused from her reading to finally look up at him. There had been a smirk on her face at the victory of having him annoyed, but she frowned. "You look like hell."

"Thanks, dear."

"Seriously, are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah," he said, waving a hand in the air as if it was nothing. "I'm just tired. You try working twelve hours with a bunch of sick people and not pick up anything."

Kagome shook her head and got up, pausing to crack her back before walking toward him. "Come on, I made dinner."

Inuyasha looked down at the top of her head as she grabbed his arm and began leading him to the kitchen. "Why do you keep cooking for me?"

"It's not that much harder to cook for two people that it is for one," she replied with a shrug. "I also fed the pets, so you just eat and relax. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am," he agreed, smiling at her as she pushed him into a chair and brought him over a plate of meat and veggies. After he was served and ready, Kagome made to head back to her work when a question from Inuyasha stopped her. "Why do you need glasses?"

"Reading," she grinned crookedly. "But I wear them sometimes to make me feel smart."

"You've got no one to impress here," he said honestly. "You should be yourself more since you're staying here now."

"This is me," Kagome replied. "Baggy, messy, and unrefined."

Inuyasha gave her the once over, bringing a rush of heat to Kagome's face. She hadn't blushed over a guy this much since her high school days-- when she was a star-struck teen and the object of her affection was an award-winning quarterback. Now, the object of her desire was a charming doctor.

"Have I mentioned that I like unrefined?" he said with a sexy smirk.

"No charming me," she warned with a pointed finger.

"Why not?" Inuyasha asked in innocence, leaning forward on to his hands. "I happen to like charming the uncharmable."

This time it was Kagome who smirked. "Who said I was uncharmable?" With a wink, Kagome pulled down the brim of her hat and headed back o the study. "Eat your food and then we'll talk."

Once she was gone, Inuyasha shook his head in wonderment as a smile played at the corner of his lips. He liked that girl, of that he had no doubt, but she was playing with fire right there. He might just have to show her-- but that would wait until he had a little more liquid courage and a lot more rest.

As it was, Inuyasha was too tired to really think about sexual acts-- but one was never too tired to flirt, so when he finished his meal and put the dishes in the washer, he headed back to his study. Kagome was clearing up her things, shutting down the computer and cleaning up her books. Inuyasha sauntered in and grabbed the small pale green journal from the leather chair before depositing himself in it.

Flipping to an open page, he read aloud the first passage he saw. "I am your spaniel, and Demetrius, the more you beat me the more I will fawn on you. Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me, neglect me, lose me. Only give me leave, as unworthy as I am to follow you."

Kagome winced a little as she turned to look at him. He looked up and smiled at her. "Shakespeare?"

She shrugged. "I write down any quotes, thoughts, or song lyrics I like. I quote in my writing a lot."

Inuyasha flipped through a few pages and read a few more lines, smiling broader the further he got. "Oh man, this is juicy!" he laughed when he got to a few sentences about how often the average human female thinks about sex in comparison to a male.

Kagome tried to grab the book from his hands but he dodged her easily by leaping from the chair, laughing as he read and taunted her. Kagome gave chase, trying to retrieve her small book, but Inuyasha had a height advantage. "You are disgustingly romantic!" he announced when she finally launched herself on to his back out of desperation.

"I never said I was anything else!" she declared, pulling on his hair until he relented and gave her back the book, while scowling and rubbing his hurting scalp.

"You're mean!" he cried, sitting in his chair and giving her the wounded-puppy face.

Kagome grinned and sat on the arm of the chair while patting his head. "I'm sorry, Inuyasha," she apologized.

Inuyasha grabbed her around the waist and pulled her on to his lap. "I forgive you, for now."

Kagome laughed and shook her head. "Are you always this frisky after a twelve hour shift?"

He tilted his head to one side, thinking for a moment, then grinned. "Nope. But I've never come home where a beautiful woman was waiting for me before." Kagome blushed slightly and shook her head before pushing out of his hold. Inuyasha let her go without restraint, though he was a little disappointed.

Buyo chose that moment to launch himself on to Inuyasha's lap and mewed loudly at Kagome. Startled, Inuyasha stroked the cat to get him to calm down. "I guess the cat is sticking with me tonight."

"Little traitor," she laughed.

"No, I think he has a cat-crush on me," Inuyasha said with a nod, stroking the cat's ears.

"It must be your animal magnetism," Kagome teased.

"I don't know. Has it affected you yet?"

Kagome frowned, but didn't comment. "Kagura called me this afternoon," she changed the subject, fiddling with the brim of her hat. "I have to call my mother in the morning."

Inuyasha looked up at her blankly. "Your mother?"

"Yeah," Kagome said, wincing slightly and scratching the back of her neck. "She lives in Jersey with my grandfather. Twenty bucks says she heard about our nuptials."

"So what are you going to tell her?"

"The truth, I guess. I can't lie to my mother... I owe her that much."

Inuyasha looked at her speculatively. "Sounds to me like you were a problem child."

"Problem teenager," she conceded with a frown and a sigh. "I did a lot of stupid things as a kid." Shaking her head, she looked back at him with a small smile. "You realize she'll want to meet you."

"Must I charm my mother-in-law while I'm still charming my bride?" he asked with the hint of a smile and humor in his eyes. Kagome rolled her own and turned to leave.

"It's late. I'm gonna take a shower and head in to be." That was exactly what she did. The only problem was when she went to bed, she was without her cat and she forgot to place a CD in the player. In a silent, dark room, Kagome fell into her dreams which fast became her all-too familiar nightmares.

* * *

Kagome was sitting in her backyard, beneath her favorite tree, letting the breeze comb through her hair. She was fifteen again, all lean limbs and designer skirts. She was waiting on the hill for someone. That was when he came. Her father.

He was just as she remembered him, dark hair and blue eyes. He gave her that classic smile of his, half mocking half affectionate, as he sat beside her.

"I've been waiting for you, Daddy," Kagome said, smiling over at him. "You're always late."

"And you're always early, my little Kagome," he grinned, tapping her on the tip of her nose. "You shame your old man."

"I get it from Mom." He laughed at her then and leaned back, looking up at the clouds as they passed overhead through the hanging branches of the tree above them. Kagome followed suit until she was stretched out beside him and relaxed. "What are we looking for today?"

"Something exciting," he said. "Something we've never seen before."

"Like a unicorn?" Kagome asked, looking beside her to see his smile.

Instead of her father stretched out in the grass, she saw him lying in a hospital bed. She saw his skin nearly translucent and tubes on his body and the sparkle gone from his eyes. She saw him the way he had looked when he died, when he hadn't remembered her name, or even known she was there.

Kagome felt the tears fall on her horrified face. It was as if her heart had been ripped out of her, and when she looked down, she beheld the hideous sight of a hole in her chest. Blood flowed freely, but she didn't feel the pain of it yet.

"Daddy?" she called, trying to move to the bedside and take his hand, to have him make her pain go away. Her mother was sitting there, with Souta and her grandfather. She tried to run there, but the closer she got, the farther they would move away. No one heard her, looked at her, or knew she was there. She was silent, invisible, bleeding in the darkness where she was left behind.

"Daddy!" she screamed, trying to catch them, to say her goodbyes. To see him one more time. "Stop! Stop!" she begged, but all pleas were unheard.

In the end, it was the sound of her own voice that woke her. The sound of her screaming and the choking in her lungs from the crying she hadn't known she had been doing in the waking world. Terrified and alone, Kagome sat bolt upright in bed, the silence looming around her so closely she couldn't breathe.

That was when the door burst open and Inuyasha skidded in, tripping over the rug and landing face-first on the ground. He gripped the side of the bed and hauled himself up, looking around as if to find some intruder.

"What's wrong? What's happening?" he asked, sleep still heavy in his voice. Kagome didn't answer, and when his gold eyes adjusted once more to the darkness around him, he saw she was holding herself tightly, and rocking back and forth slowly. "Kagome?"

"I didn't put a CD on," she whispered back in a hoarse voice. "It's too quiet."

"What happened?" he asked in a low voice. He was confused and a little scared of her at that moment.

"I told you," she snapped. "I have nightmares." Tears were evident in her voice, and her fear. "God," she swore, rubbing her face with her hands, trying to remove any signs of her tears. "This doesn't happened often anymore," she explained hurriedly. "I'm very sorry that I woke you up."

"No, no," Inuyasha said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's ok." With a small smile, he shrugged. "I've always been a light sleeper."

Kagome scoffed a little and sighed. "Still, I'm sorry."

"Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine, really." She attempted a smile, but it was weak. Inuyasha could also see that she was still shaking and that did not sit well with him.

"Yeah, then I'll be going." It was a test of course, to see if she'd actually let him go. As suspected, her hand shot out and grabbed his arm. He smiled a little as he sat back down. "Not fine?"

"Not fine," she agreed.

"Come on," he said as he tossed back the covers. "You can sleep with me and the dog and the cat tonight." Sliding one arm under her knees, Inuyasha circled her shoulders and lifted her into his arms as he carried her down the hall to his room.

It was a little more decorated, a lot neater without the boxes, but basically the same as hers. The main difference was the bigger bed, and the two pets curled up on top of it. "You let Jewel on your bed?" Kagome asked, her arms linked around his neck.

"She's my girl," he said, turning to smile at her. "She deserves the best."

Kagome smiled back and nodded. Once Inuyasha placed her down, he tucked her under the covers before walking over to his side, pushing the cat over, and setting himself down again.

"Thank you," Kagome whispered, turning over so she faced him.

Inuyasha yawned, already falling back under the spell of his Serta mattress. "Anytime, sweetness."

Kagome smiled, feeling well taken care of, closed her eyes and settled in. This time, when she fell asleep, she focused on the sound of Inuyasha's breathing, of Jewel's light panting, and of Buyo's purring. She found that focusing on three sounds was much easier than focusing on one. This time, when she fell asleep, there were no nightmares.

* * *

When Kagome woke up, she found herself in a new position. During the night, she had shifted to where she now rested, head on Inuyasha's chest, and arm laying across his stomach. Inuyasha's arm was curled around her shoulders, the other rested on Jewel. The dog lay on her side, feet twitching with imagined dreams of chasing rabbits.

Buyo was no longer on the bed, but he came sauntering into the room a few minutes later to sit and look at her with his head cocked. "I bet you get a kick out of this," Kagome whispered. Buyo only licked his lips.

She tried to figure out a way to slip out without waking Inuyasha, but it was have been impossible. Finally, she thought, why fight it? and settled in to go back to sleep. Though Kagome had always been an early riser-- she loved sleeping more than breathing. That was why it annoyed her when Inuyasha's alarm went off.

"Arg," he groaned, swinging his arm off Jewel to whack the clock's snooze button. Then he turned on to his side, only to be confronted by Kagome, watching him with a blank expression.

"That's what's going to make you late," she informed him.

"Blah!" he yelped, springing backwards and falling over the side of the bed. He popped up a second later, hair in disarray, and Jewel awake as well. "What are you doing here?"

"You brought me here," she responded, sitting up and arching her back. "You don't remember?"

He did after her reminder. "Sorry... I'm not a morning person."

"Really?" she asked in mocking. He frowned.

"I have to go get ready..."

"I'm not stopping you," she said. With that, she got up and walked back to her own room to change and start the day.

Inuyasha frowned as he watched her. Obviously she was upset over something, but as it was, he didn't have time to see what it was. He had to get to the hospital in half an hour, and he had his work cut out for him.

Once dressed and ready to head out to the hospital, Inuyasha slunk into the kitchen. Kagome, who still looked to be in a sour mood, already laid out his breakfast on the table. Inuyasha had to smile a little-- even pissed she cooked for him.

"Eat it before it gets cold," Kagome called over her shoulders. She was making herself scrambled eggs and had no time to waste on conversation with him.

"Only if you tell me what's up," he said coolly.

"There is nothing wrong," she said firmly as she removed the pan from the stove and plunged it into the dishwater.

"Uh, Kagome?"

"What?" she snapped.

"You're washing your eggs." She paused and looked down at the water to see the bits of yellow floating along among the suds.

"Oh." Blushing she dropped the pan and turned to face him, hands braced on the sink top. "I'm sorry. I'm very nervous and when I'm nervous I get cranky."

"What's to be nervous about?" he asked with an arched brow.

"Calling my mother," she reminded him.

"Oh, that."

"Yes, that." Kagome brushed some hair from her face. "Listen, you should go to work and have a lovely day. I'll be an adult, face the music, and call my mother."

"Are you sure?" he asked, genuinely concerned.

Kagome smiled and walked to him, tugging the wrinkles out of his jacket. "Yes." To convince him further, she awarded him a heady good-bye kiss that left his senses swimming and her feeling light headed. Arms still linked around his neck, Kagome sighed. "Go to work."

"I don't know if I want to anymore," he admitted with a smoldering look in his eye and a dangerous smile on his face.

"I have a phone call to make, and you can't be late," she reminded firmly. "But maybe when you get home we could explore this further." Teasingly, she kissed him lightly once more before stepping back.

"You're such a tease." Inuyasha growled, but turned to leave.

"That's only because you're too cute," she retorted.

Inuyasha smirked. "Can't help that, honey."

Kagome sat on the counter in the center of the kitchen and debated her actions. After grabbing the wireless phone from the cradle, she retreated to the study with Jewel and Buyo on her heels. The obese cat, which had been strangely absent from her side as of late, launched himself on her lap and made himself comfortable.

Her heartbeat was picking up as she dialed her home number and brought the phone to her ear. On the third ring, her mother picked up.

"Higurashi residence?"

"Hello, Momma," Kagome said with as much cheer as she could.

"Kagome!" There were some muffled sounds in the background that Kagome assumed to be her grandfather. "Grandpa, it's Kagome! Kagome, dear, where have you been?!" Her mother sounded so hysterical that it was beginning to weird her out.

"Whoa, Mom, calm down," Kagome said once her mother began chattering. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, Kagome, how could you have gotten married without telling me and your grandfather? We were so surprised when we heard about it on the news that you hadn't even called! And Souta, he wouldn't tell me anything so I had to call Sango."

"I know, I'm sorry, Mom," Kagome sighed.

"I've been calling and calling--"

"I haven't been home," Kagome explained.

"Sango told me that you changed your number," her mother said in that knowing tone that all mother's had.

"Well, that happens when you aren't home. You have to be reached by another number."

"Don't get cute with me, Kagome," he mother said. "Where are you?" Kagome didn't answer right away. In fact, she opened and closed her mouth several times, thinking of something to say. "Baby?"

"I'm staying with a friend for a little while, Momma," Kagome said, feeling the metaphorical noose beginning to tighten.

"Be straight with me, Kagome, are you staying with your husband?"

Inwardly wincing, Kagome sighed. "Yes." That was all she could say.

"Oh, Kagome!"

"I'm so sorry Momma! I didn't plan it like this!"

"You didn't even tell me you were seeing anyone!" her mother suddenly bawled. "What's his name? What does he do? Is he cute? Kagome, you make me crazy sometimes!"

"Inuyasha. He's a doctor. Yes. And I'm sorry!"

They spent the next twenty minutes taking turns on babbling incoherently, bursting into tears, and just talking about things. "Kagome, dear, you have to bring him home with you."

"Can't you and Grandpa come here?" Kagome whined.

"Kagome, you promised me!" Mrs. Higurashi scolded. "Now, you have to come down to bring your husband."

"I'll have to talk this over with my husband," Kagome explained, not sure she wanted to do this.

"Call me back tonight?" her mother pleaded. There was no way Kagome could disappoint her mother any more than she already had. She loved her mother very much.

* * *

Kagome adjusted the brim of her baseball cap before entering the hospital lobby. It wasn't as though she expected to be recognized, she was just feeling insecure about going to the workplace of her husband for the first-- and probably only-- time.

The lobby was sparsely populated, so it seemed to be a good time to drop in. There was a young and fairly attractive woman sitting at the desk in the front of the lobby, answering phones and filing records. Kagome thought it was odd that a woman who worked in a hospital would wear red pumps and a mini skirt, but she worked in an office building in jeans and a baseball cap.

"Excuse me," Kagome called over the counter, trying to get the attention of the woman. Looking over her shoulder, the young woman put down the files she had been holding and walked over.

"If you take a seat, I'll give you a board and you can fill out a sheet for a doctor to see you," she responded.

"No, I'm not sick," Kagome said quickly. "I'm looking for Dr. Inuyasha Saishi?"

The woman paused, blinking at her in confusion. "Dr. Saishi is on rotation right now. If you need to see him, have a seat and I'll wait until he has an opening."

"I'm not a patient," Kagome said again. "Do you know where he is?"

"He's with a patient," the woman said, now becoming angry. "Just have a seat, please."

With a sigh, Kagome took a seat nearby the desk to wait for Inuyasha to appear, or be called, or whatever. She waited, and she waited, and… she waited. After half an hour she went back up to the desk.

"Pardon me," she asked the woman again. "Do you have any idea when Dr. Saishi will be back?"

"Ma'am, Dr. Saishi is a very busy man."

"I know he's busy, but I need to talk to him!"

"If you don't back off the desk, I will call security," the woman threatened.

"I just want to talk to Inuyasha," Kagome said slowly, calmly.

"A lot of people do," the woman snapped. "What makes you so special?"

"Did I hear someone say my name, Nazuna?" Both women turned to see Inuyasha enter the station, deposit a chart and pick up a new one. When he looked up from his mission, he noticed the other woman on the other side of the desk. "Kagome?"

"Hi," she said lamely. "I need to talk to you for a minute."

"Sure," he said with a nod.

"Uh, Dr. Saishi," Nazuna interrupted, looking disgruntled. "You know this woman?"

"Of course," Inuyasha smirked. "This is my wife."

Nazuna's face fell and she whirled to look at Kagome. Her eyes widened in horror as she took in Kagome's baggy shirt, patched leather coat, faded jeans, and the tacky rum-sporting cap. Then she turned to look at Inuyasha, who still looked oh-so-yummy in his pale green scrubs and hair held at the nape of his neck. How could a man as steamy as him possibly marry a woman so... drab?

Inuyasha seemed oblivious to Nazuna's inner conclusions. Kagome was not, but she was more focused on Inuyasha, who slid over the top of the desk to land beside her, and casually kissed her cheek. "What's the occasion that brings you to my place of work?"

"What are you doing this weekend?" she asked with a shaky smile.

Inuyasha turned to Nazuna. "I'm taking my break." Turning back to Kagome, he looped an arm around her waist and steered her outside to talk. "Sorry about telling the big secret, but Nazuna set her cap for me after she was hired so for the past year I've been subjected to all manner of flirtation," he explained with a grin.

"Ah," Kagome said with a grin. "Tell me, what _are_ you doing this weekend?"

He grinned slowly. "With any luck, you."

Kagome blushed even as she laughed. "And you call Miroku a pervert!"

"I lived with the man for four years, it's only natural I pick up a few things."

"Well, change of plans," Kagome announced with a little anxiety. "I'm taking you home to meet my family." Inuyasha opened his mouth but Kagome quickly covered his mouth with her hand. "I know it's wrong to spring it on you, but my mother is very convincing."

"Kagome," he said once removing her hand and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. "I have no problem with going, really."

"Really?" she asked, sounding so relieved he had to grin.

"Really."

* * *

Sango sighed heavily as she pushed the door open and walked into Miroku's apartment. After shoving the key to the door back into her bag, Sango huffed into the living room and then into the kitchen in her search for her boyfriend.

Coming directly from work, Sango was still decked out in her business wear, but Miroku had been home for a while and had changed from his suit into a band-label tee-shirt reading _Fuel_ and a pair of sweatpants. The very unaware said boyfriend simply blinked, paused his humming, and looked up as Sango brushed past him, tossing her bag on to a chair and turning to face him.

"Are you free this weekend?" she questioned. Her light purple eyes were tired, but serious as they met his darker violet orbs.

"Excuse me?" Miroku-- who had been in the process of cooking his dinner-- simply held up the grilled cheese sandwich he was making and stared at his girlfriend.

"Kagome is taking Inuyasha home to meet her family," Sango explained. "She asked if we would like to come down to their home in New Jersey. Moral support, you understand."

"You... barged in here, disrupted my grilled cheese... and ask me to go on vacation?" Miroku summed up with a nod. "Sure, I'd love to go, considering our last vacation was ruined."

"That what I thought. They owe us a relaxing weekend."

"Right."

"They owe us a little time where we're not worrying about them."

"Right!"

"They owe us the vacation lost when they screwed up."

"Right!"

"Miroku..."

"Yes, my flower?"

"Your sandwich is on fire."

Miroku looked down and sure enough, his grilled cheese was in flames. "Ah! No!" Quickly, he took the pan from the flame and tried to salvage his food. However, it was too far-gone to save. "Alas, poor grilled cheese, I knew thee well," he cried.

"Oh God, getting teary over food," Sango sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"But, I'm still hungry!" Miroku grumbled, poking the black bread. "This is all the food that's left in my house."

"Why not just order out?" Sango offered, placing her hands on his shoulders. "My treat?"

Miroku perked up and turned, catching Sango in his arms. "Free food?" he asked, nuzzling the side of her neck. "I knew there was a reason I put up with your abuse."

"Apart from my stamina?" Sango laughed a little breathlessly. "I thought you were too hungry."

"I am, but for something else now." Sango laughed and grinned as he led her out of the kitchen and toward his room. For right now, they wouldn't worry about Kagome and Inuyasha, or about Kagura and Sesshomaru, right now they'd only worry about themselves. Tomorrow would come soon enough as it was.


	5. Chapter 5: Never A Sure Thing

A/N: All right, my adoring readers, here is chapter 5 of _Breaking the Rules_. Only 3 more chapters to go everyone until this short story is completed! This one I hope to finish up soon, and keep working on _Curse of the Gypsy _and _Safer on the Outside_. I'm also starting work on the first of my 3-part AU series I've nicknamed The Drama Club. (Check out my bio for summaries!) Expect the first chapter for that soon. Stick with me, my fans, for I aim to please and I'm feeling verrrrrry romancy! Oh, and before I forget! My most successful fanfic _A Fighter's Story_, has been nominated for Elimination. I would appreciate everyone's vote when the next round begins. Please check out my bio for the link!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha-- never have and never will-- you got that?

Breaking the Rules

Chapter 5: Never A Sure Thing

Kagome's PoV

There are several things a girl learns very early on in life. Never get into a car with strangers. Never let anyone treat you less because you're not like them. And most importantly, any man you like must be approved by your family if the relationship's ever going to work. The first two loves of my life didn't meet this standard.

Now I'm not saying that Inuyasha would become number three-- or even that I liked him in more than a sexual way, because that's not what I mean-- what I mean is that to keep up this little guise, I would hope that my family would like him. That would make my life a whole lot easier.

When I spoke to my mother, and she convinced me to bring Inuyasha home, I was nervous. Funny thing is, it wasn't so much the fact for Inuyasha to meet Mom and Grandpa. He would utterly charm them-- he was polite when the situation called for it, he respected me, and he was rich. Those are the three commandments any man must meet when dating someone's daughter.

I was actually more nervous about going home. Since I had left for college when I was eighteen, I hadn't gone back to my old home in New Jersey. Maybe that was stupid of me, holding on to such a fear and apprehension of going back to the place that once held so much joy for me. Mostly it was because that place held so many memories that I just couldn't face it. What was worse was that Naraku would be coming to my mother's home to interview my family for the endorsement, which did nothing to ease my tension.

That, among other things, was part of the reason I invited Sango-- who in turn invited Miroku. I asked Kagura, but as I expected she had to take a rain check-- too much to do in so little time. Souta and the other two knuckleheads would undoubtedly show up sometime over the weekend as well. This would help, having those I love around me, for moral support. Maybe it was time for me to grow up, and face my fears once and for all. I just hope this wouldn't turn around and bite me in the ass.

But with my luck, I wouldn't be surprised.

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Kagura sat at the table in the dimly lit restaurant, tapping her salad fork against her empty plate with an annoyed expression. She had taken time out of her oh-so-busy schedule for this dinner, and her companion was already twenty minutes late.

"Typical Sesshomaru," she sighed to herself. And it was. When they had been together, he was perpetually late due to business, and he never called. In the beginning, it had annoyed her to no end, but that was when she was young and impatient and utterly in love. After they had been together for a while, she had fallen into the pattern of expecting the unexpected, and knowing his routine by heart.

It had been five years. Though many things had changed over that time, they hadn't changed much at all, so it seemed. He was still married to his business, still keeping to the same regimen he had been forced into when he inherited his father's money and responsibilities. She, for all her newfound success, was still searching for meaning in her world, for a purpose other than simply surviving in this cutthroat world.

Kagura could never for the life of her understand what had attracted her to Sesshomaru in the first place. She had been fresh on an internship at his company, barely twenty-two at the time, still naïve and young. He wasn't much older than she was, just under twenty-five. It just seemed like a good thing at the time.

But things always got messy when hearts were involved. In her earlier college years she had been a heartbreaker and a tease. No one ever held her interest long, through no fault of their own. She was just hard to please. Picky, her family had always called her. Kagura never cared; her heart was only in the chase, not the rewards.

Then, for the first time in her life, she met a man who didn't want to chase. She had been annoyed, then intrigued, then far gone. By the time she looked around, she already knew that she was head over heels in love with the man. Frighteningly, painfully, desperately in love with him to be more exact. She was now the one giving chase, and it took her a little while to wear him down enough to be caught.

Kagura was persistent, she was faithful, and she was devoted-- two of which she had never been before. And the strangest thing was that she was all three to a man she would have never gone after normally. Sesshomaru wasn't outgoing, he wasn't rebellious or even wild. He was contained and reserved and most of all, he was pensive. Even after their three-year affair, there had been things about him she didn't know. That had always bothered her.

Making no excuses for herself, Kagura was openly one of the romantically impaired. She was different than Kagome in the fact that she did not want to be that way; she wanted to have relationships, to maybe get married one day. She was lonely, and she hated that, but mostly she wanted her future to include the man she had chosen for herself.

That was no longer possible, as things stood, and she was far too stubborn to ever openly ask for him to take her back. If five years wasn't long enough for her treacherous heart to forget Sesshomaru Saishi, than she'd wait ten… fifteen… twenty! Whatever it took.

Determinedly, she sat up straighter in her chair. Yes, she would get over him, the hole he left in her heart would heal and she would find someone who would love her again. She could forget what he had done to her, all those years ago. Forget and move on.

"Hello Kagura." His voice knifed through all her empowered thoughts, sending them spinning back into the void where she had plucked them from. _Goddamn it!_ she cursed herself, cursed him for holding such a power over her. It began to make her doubt her conviction of moving back to a sane place.

"Good evening Sesshomaru," she greeted, standing as the waiter took his coat and he went for his seat. Her heartbeat began to pick up as she took in his appearance, which was as stunningly gorgeous as ever. He looked particularly handsome tonight, making her wonder if the reason behind his tardiness was more personal than a long-running business meeting. "I'm sorry to see old habits are hard to break."

He looked at her with a level golden gaze while seating himself. Sesshomaru was surprised to see her without a trademark business suit. The editor had abandoned her usual garments in favor for a more casual look-- her favorite Valentino dress which was as red as her eyes and did more than a little to accent her stunning appearance. And for an added bonus, she even left her hair down, which was something Kagura hardly ever did.

"One must sacrifice pleasure in the name of business when the time calls for it," was his cool reply.

Kagura smirked and opened her menu. "You know why I've asked you here?" she asked as she scanned the French food titles.

"A little bird told me that your endorsement people have refused all requests to leave my brother alone," he responded.

"Kagome is going home for the weekend after a small interview tomorrow. They're going to go to her house and interview her entire family-- and Inuyasha must be present, considering. I did my best, but his name will be mentioned."

"This means press could get back to me," he stated flatly. "I thought we established I didn't want him to be part of this deal."

"It's not possible to get him out," Kagura explained, controlling her temper, albeit it was difficult. "Like it or not, he's married to her and he will be mentioned. Face it, it's going to get out sometime."

"I had hoped they would have annulled this little charade before it would go that far," Sesshomaru countered. He was not pleased, though he hid his annoyance well.

"Both are very determined about going through with it," Kagura commented dryly. She did not approve of this any more than Sesshomaru did-- but her love of Kagome clouded her judgment. "I'm getting soft in my old age," she growled, rubbing the skin on the bridge of her nose.

"I would hardly call your age old," he retorted. "Though I must admit you are hardly the rough-edged business woman I had hoped you would become."

That stung, and the worse part was that it was not supposed to sting. She should have been proud that she hadn't become what he had hoped she would become; she should have been happy. But Kagura wasn't happy or proud; she was disappointed. In some small corner of her heart, she had done all of this-- her magazine and her empire-- to get back at him. To hear Sesshomaru say that she wasn't what he expected of her… it left her feeling an inch tall.

Kagura closed her menu and removed the napkin from her lap. "I guess this concludes our meeting," she said casually as she stood. "I recommend strongly that you speak to your brother tomorrow before he leave for the weekend. Goodnight, Sesshomaru."

Holding her head high, Kagura walked from the table toward the front desk to retrieve her coat. After that would be the valet hailing her cab and she could go home and cry into a pint of Hagen Daas. Kagura didn't care what she did as long as she never let Sesshomaru see her cry. He had done enough to her without stealing her dignity as well.

"Kagura," he called after her, getting up and following. She could feel his eyes on her back, but she didn't care. She kept walking. She got her coat from the desk without looking at him and she headed outside without listening to him try and stop her. The kicker came when the valet outside hailed her cab-- and he got in with her.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" she yelled at him. "Get out!"

"No," was his simple answer. Then he gave the driver his address and the car took off. "We're not finished here."

"What the hell else do we have to discuss?" she scoffed. "I failed, okay?! I couldn't protect Inuyasha or you or Kagome. There, now you got me to say it." Angry tears burned at the back of her eyes, but she would not let them fall, no matter what. "Does that make you happy?"

Sesshomaru only looked at her, emotions cleverly in check-- as always. Kagura wanted to cry just then, cry for the girl she had been when she had lost her heart to this man, but mostly to cry for the woman who still chased him in spirit. Karma was punishing her.

"Kagura, it doesn't make me happy that you're distraught," he commented.

"I'm not distraught," she said indignantly. "Distraught would be me crying into a handkerchief while watching the Lifetime channel. This is me being overworked, overtired, and overstressed."

He had no retort for that, and they were silent the rest of the ride to his apartment. Sesshomaru got out of the cab, paid the driver, and then opened Kagura's door to help her out. She purposely refused his hand as she stood. Not surprised in the least that he lived in the same place now as he had before, Kagura simply sashayed past him and toward the stairs. Sesshomaru smirked lightly to himself as he followed, opening the door for her and then walking to the elevator.

"So talk to me," she demanded. "What else have we to discuss?"

"What will become of your magazine if you are denied this endorsement?" he asked calmly.

Kagura looked away from him, ruby eyes angry and quickly filling. _Fuck, you are so weak,_ she mentally yelled at herself even as the first few tears overflowed. Life was so unfair. "If we don't get the endorsement, _The Winds_ is done. I invested all of my reserve funds into our expansion and if it doesn't go through, there isn't enough left to continue the production even on one coast distribution."

"So this is a sink or swim deal," Sesshomaru summed up, looking toward her as the door opened on his floor. Kagura walked out without looking at him, head down, fists clenched. He followed, frowning slightly.

"Go ahead and joke about it," she snapped back at him once she reached his door. "This isn't your livelihood on the line."

Sesshomaru chose not to reply as he unlocked his door and opened it for her. He never stopped to think why she was coming to his apartment, or why he even wanted her there. The hurt between them had run deep on both sides, but here he was, bringing her home in an attempt to ease her worried mind.

His apartment, still immaculate and artistic, was just as she remembered it to be. It was both comforting and foreboding at the same time. Long had she dreamed of coming back to this place-- leave it to be when she least wanted to be there. Hoping he wouldn't notice, Kagura quickly swiped at the moisture running down her face. As he luck would have it, he noticed.

He walked right over to her and tilted her face back to get a good look. She glared up at him, but didn't have the heart or the strength to pull away. "Satisfied?" she whispered angrily.

"You've never been a woman to shed a tear lightly," he replied, wiping what was left from her cheek with the pad of his thumb.

"What makes you think you know the first thing about me?" she snapped, now pulling from his hold. "What was between you and me ended a long time ago. I've changed since then."

"So have I," he shot back, temper rising in his own right. "That doesn't mean I don't still know some things about you." He shook his head and turned away. "There are some things that never change, Kagura."

"But there are things that do," she said as a fresh wave of tears descended from her fiery eyes. "There are things that must."

"Are you referring to us?" he asked with the slightest hint of dark humor in his voice.

"If you want to take it that way," was her retort.

"You are not the only one who is allowed pain, Kagura." At that she laughed, laughed and sobbed at the same time. Her dignity was gone; why try to hide it? He took her laughter as an insult, and his frown returned. "I was not the one who ended things between us. That was you, Kagura."

"I couldn't do it anymore," she yelled at him. "I couldn't watch you kill yourself for a ghost. I didn't want to spend my life in a one-sided relationship."

"You doubted me?" he asked quietly, anger turning to stun.

"I didn't doubt your affection for me," she spat at him, bitterness evident. She never had told anyone the reasons behind her split with Sesshomaru, but now she felt like throwing it all in his smug face. "I was good for sex and appearances, but nothing else. You never let me help you. You never let me _see_ you. I was trapped in this place, kept out by those walls you always kept around you. I was all alone, and I couldn't live that way."

She turned her back on him, hands covering her face. For so long she had tried not to think of this, tried not to remember the pain it all caused her. Yet here she was, right back where it started.

"Kagura…" What could he say, really? She was right, he knew that, but how could he possibly tell her that? How could he ask her to go back to something that made her miserable just because he was miserable without her? It was unfair, but he wanted to. He wanted to beg her to come back into his life for good, but he wouldn't. Maybe it was pride that kept his tongue in check, but mostly it was the broken heart she left him with. He didn't want that pain again.

"You loved me," she whispered, still not looking at him. "But you loved your work more." She sighed in defeat, running a hand through her hair and over her face. "I should go home," she said with a sigh that seem to come from the core of her being. "I'm tired."

As she walked to the door, he stopped her with a hand against the white wood. Kagura turned, ruby eyes meeting gold for a long moment. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. It still seemed to echo through the empty apartment. It was an apology meant for many things, for all things, for everything.

"Are you?" she asked. Part of her needed to know it was real, that he meant it. She was sorry, sorry with all of her soul that she wasn't enough to heal him, to help him. Kagura had felt unworthy, less than she should have been when she left. Now, her fragile self-assurance was shaking, threatening to break all over again on the words of this man. The only man she had ever loved, and, in her heart she knew this to be true, the only man she would ever love.

"The only thing in this world that I am sure of," he responded. He sounded at once hesitant and sure. Truth was in his words, in his eyes, in his heart. Kagura was sure of it. That was the only reason she did the single most selfish thing she had ever done. She grabbed on to Sesshomaru and kissed him with reckless abandon, until not even the old reasons held truth to her anymore.

She never did manage to leave that apartment.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Naraku sat in Kagome's office, reapplying his make-up with disinterest. He was already looking flawless, but he needed something to do while waiting for the writer to get there. Kanna sat beside him, her laptop open and jacked into the wall so that she could scan the Internet. He looked over her shoulder and saw that she was uploading some software or other. With a yawn, he looked down at his watch. Kagome was late, and Kanna was not one for conversation. If she didn't get there soon, heads would roll.

Suddenly, the winded writer in question skidded into the room, throwing off her coat and hat. "I'm sorry I'm late," she apologized quickly. "There was an accident and I was stuck in traffic."

"A likely story," Naraku said with a good-hearted grin. "Now, can we get started?"

"Of course," Kagome said with her business politeness. She sat at her desk and crossed her hands over her desk. "Ask away."

Kanna clicked a few screens off her computer and readied to record, fingers still and tense. Naraku smirked before firing out his new questions. "How's married life?"

Kagome had been prepping herself for all manner of questions about Inuyasha and herself, so she was well prepared. "It's difficult, but well worth the trouble," she commented.

"So you enjoy being married?"

Kagome smiled. "I wouldn't recommend it like I would a movie. It takes work and dedication. Marriage is not something to take lightly. Or," she said as a flat afterthought, "to be done on a whim."

"So you're saying marriage is a sacred institution?"

"I'm saying that marriage, like all relationships, should be taken seriously and given the respect it deserves." Her cool demeanor annoyed Naraku. When he had first interviewed her, she had seemed flappable and nervous, jittery would not be a stretch. All of a sudden, she seemed confident and in control. This was not how things were supposed to go. He had to keep her blind and humbled.

"I do hope you don't mind Kanna and me dropping by your mother's home tomorrow," he said, changing the subject. "It is for the investors whom we represent."

Kagome wasn't sure, but she thought Kanna winced slightly. She focused her attentions on Naraku once more, calm and collected, just as Inuyasha had told her to be. "My mother lives for company," Kagome said with a smile. "But I do ask that you not trouble her or my grandfather too much. Grandpa is ill and they are both getting older." With a smile she cracked her knuckles. "But I can tell your focus will mostly be on me and my husband, yes?"

"Probably," Kanna muttered, typing away. Naraku glared at her but the young woman didn't even seem to notice.

"You'll also have the rare privilege of spending time in the company of my little brother," Kagome continued, eyeing Naraku. "He and his two roommates will also be spending the weekend with us."

"How delightful," he said with a fake smile. That was when Naraku's cell phone began to ring, and the tune for Michael Jackson's Thriller filled the office. Kagome smirked and Kanna caught her eye with a smile of her own. Naraku grabbed the phone clipped to his belt and flipped it open. "I'm in a meeting," he hissed.

"You have four days," a voice on the other end said loudly. "Then I want you back out here."

"Will that be enough time to get everything you need?" Naraku said in a low voice, aware that the two women in the room with him could hear every word.

"It will be enough," the deep male voice concluded.

"I understand," Naraku concluded with a nod. Then he hung up. "I'm afraid we'll have to cut this interview short as well," he said suddenly, grabbing his briefcase and motioning for Kanna to leave with him. "We'll see you on Saturday, Ms. Higurashi." With nothing more, they walked out, leaving Kagome blinking confusedly in their wake.

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"Hey San," Kagome called, knocking on the publicist's door before strolling inside. "The endorsement people just took off on me."

Sango sat at her desk, looking over a file before looking up at her friend. "Beg your pardon?"

"Yeah, I was in the middle of an interview with Naraku got a call and then they disappeared, just like that."

"Strange," Sango commented, pulling the glasses from the bridge of her nose as she sat up straighter. "No reason or anything?"

"Nope," Kagome sighed, sitting in the empty chair before the desk. "Guess we'll just have to work harder tomorrow when they come down to the Shrine."

"You really don't want to go, do you?" her friend questioned, hearing the forlorn tone to her voice.

"Not really," Kagome confided. "I'm scared of the ghosts."

"Kags, you've got to face them sometime." Sango smiled sympathetically as she got up and patted her friend's shoulder. "It's all part of being an adult."

"For joy, for joy," the writer sarcastically replied. Sango only laughed. "So you and Miroku are coming down tomorrow morning, right?"

"Bright and early," Sango said with a nod. "The obnoxious trio is coming with us, just to warn you."

"I never expected anything less," Kagome laughed. "I wish Kagura could come though."

"I wouldn't worry too much about Kagura," Sango said with a barely contained smile. "She never came in to work this morning."

"What?" Kagome asked, a little worried. "Where is she?"

"I called her cell. She spent the night with a man." That was when Kagome's jaw fell and Sango burst into hysterical laughter. "It's true! I swear it! I heard his voice in the background and I heard Kagura cursing her head off! It was classic!"

"I can't believe it," Kagome whispered in wonder. "Kagura and me both getting laid within a week-long period. It's a sign of the apocalypse."

"Probably," Sango agreed.

Kagome looked down at her watch and sucked in a breath. "I've got to get out of here, San. The limo is going to pick us up at 4:15."

"Limo?" Sango asked with an arched brow. Kagome grinned happily.

"Inuyasha said he wanted to arrive in style. And I figured, I can live it up a little."

"You are so bad!" Sango laughed.

"I know!" Kagome agreed. "I'm the devil in a Captain Morgan baseball hat." After another fit of giggles, Kagome got up to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow, San."

"Bye Kags," Sango waved as her friend left in her usually flurry. With a smile and a little laugh, the publicist went back to work. At least until she was interrupted again.

"Excuse me, Miss Rae?" When Sango looked up, she was surprised to see Yura, Kagura's secretary, hesitantly knocking on the frame to her office door. The secretary was carrying a file under her arm and curled a finger around a lock of her hair nervously. "I'm sorry to bother you."

"Please come in," Sango welcomed her, a little confused by her presence. She offered her the empty chair and Yura happily took it. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, I know this might cost me my job," Yura said with a sigh. "But I was looking at some of the finance portfolio." At the look Sango gave her, Yura quickly tried to explain. "I've been going to night school to get my Bachelor's degree in financial business, so I was working on portfolio studies and I wanted to use ours as a reference."

"That's not something secretaries are usually privy to," Sango commented dryly.

"I swear to you that I wasn't doing anything to it." Yura was deadly serious as she met Sango's eyes. "I love this job and I would not do anything to risk it."

Sango was convinced-- partially. "What did you find that brings you here?"

"This," the secretary said, tossing the file on to the desk. "Our reserve funds were tapped earlier in the year when looking for endorsement in the bi-costal project. I noticed a few days ago that large sums of the reserve have been systematically depleted from six different accounts. My guess is that boss lady doesn't know anything about this, but I thought you might want to take a look at it."

Sango scanned over the files and gulped. Yura was right. In the past week, nearly 3 million dollars had been pilfered from their accounts. "Holy fuck," she swore. "Does anyone else know about this?"

"Probably not," Yura said. "The only time the financial portfolio is examined is on the 3rd and 30th of the month, when the payments are made."

Sango nodded to herself, burying a hand in her hair. "Okay. I'll get to the bottom of this." She looked up suddenly at Yura. "Don't tell anyone else about this, got it?"

"My lips are sealed," the secretary said as she got up. "Just fix this quick, before boss lady blows what's left of her blood pressure."

"Right," Sango said with a crooked smile.

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He hadn't expected to be nervous. It wasn't like he was meeting his girlfriend's parents. It wasn't like he was searching for approval. Still, for some reason, Inuyasha Saishi was growing more and more nervous the closer he got to the Higurashi homestead.

Kagome was also nervous; he could tell by the way she was fidgeting. It helped that they brought their pets along for the weekend. Kagome always seemed more relaxed when Buyo-- and Jewel-- were around her.

It was almost a two-hour drive to get from the city to Kagome's home town-- a suburban neighborhood near the coastline of the Jersey shore. She looked more and more nervous the closer they got.

"Are you really that freaked out that I'm meeting your family?" Inuyasha asked, finally unable to sit by silently.

Kagome jumped. She had almost forgotten he was there-- which was not a good thing-- and whirled to face him when he spoke. When his words sunk into her head she smiled a little. "No, you'll do fine. I just…" She paused to look out the window. They were close now, only four or five blocks away. "I haven't been home since I was eighteen."

"Why?" Inuyasha pressed. He was curious-- he just couldn't help it! She seemed like such a family-orientated person.

"Because of my Dad," she replied thoughtfully. Inuyasha was about to make a comment, but she overrode him. "We're here!"

And indeed they were. The limo pulled up alongside a large piece of property. A stone staircase led up a hill to where the house was located, and a small wooden fence and line of shrubbery surrounded the entire perimeter of the land. Kagome, for all her nervousness and anxiety, rocketed out of the car when she saw two figures appear on the top steps. Buyo, who was in his crate, started mewing loudly when Jewel leapt out of the car behind Kagome. Inuyasha, with a little reluctance, followed.

"Momma, Grandpa!" Kagome squealed, taking the steps two at a time until she reached the top. Then she threw her arms around them both.

"Oh Kagome, we haven't seen you in so long!" her mother cried in delight.

"Not since Christmas," her grandfather tossed in. His attention quickly shifted from his granddaughter to the man who was casually climbing the steps in her wake. There was a large white dog at his heels, and a cat crate in his hand. Still, he had some kind of dignity that made an old man narrow his eyes. "And this would be…?"

Kagome turned and smiled a little. "Momma, Grandpa," she addressed each in turn. "This is Dr. Inuyasha Saishi… my husband." The last part was added more for dramatic effect.

Inuyasha, by this time, had reached them. He placed Buyo on the ground carefully, so as not to jar the already unhappy cat. This was the moment of truth-- facing the in-laws. "It's a pleasure to meet you both," he said in his most official doctor's voice.

Grandpa Higurashi only glared at him, as if surveying him for evil spirits or demonic energy-- which he was in fact doing. Meanwhile, Kagome's mother smiled in polite welcome and shook his hand. "Welcome to the Shrine, Inuyasha."

He smiled a little in shy acceptance. Kagome nudged him with her elbow and motioned with her head that he should follow her. "Come on, we can all go up to the house and talk."

"Splendid idea, Kagome," her mother said with a nod. "This seems like the kind of situation that calls for tea."

"I second that," her daughter agreed. "Coming Grandpa?"

The old man, who was still glaring at Inuyasha, sniffed loudly and followed. "Well, that tea won't make itself now."

"Don't mind Grandpa," Mrs. Higurashi said with a little frown. "He's always been overprotective and mistrustful of strangers."

"That's all right I guess," Inuyasha commented. Suddenly he grinned over at Kagome, then her mother. "What kind of tea do we have?"

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The house was actually a shrine, a place of worship built for Japanese immigrants back in the twenties, when Kagome's great grandparents had first migrated across the country to New Jersey. Her grandfather, who had been a boy at the time, warmed up to Inuyasha when the young doctor expressed an interest in the history of their home.

Kagome suspected that it was all part of Inuyasha's intricate plan of getting in the good graces of her family, but she was happily surprised when he enthusiastically listened to her grandfather's history lessons-- and even went on a guided tour of the grounds. This left Kagome time with her mother, and time in her home.

"So," her mother asked as they brewed the tea in the kitchen. "Is it really so bad being home?"

Kagome grinned sheepishly. "I haven't been home long enough to answer that question."

Her mother laughed and brushed the stray hair from Kagome's face. "You are too much like your father," she said with a fond smile. "All superstition and drama."

"I know," Kagome agreed. "I am a Capricorn." They shared a laugh and her mother took the tea kettle off the fire as it started to whistle.

"Everyone else is coming down tomorrow?"

"Yes," Kagome agreed. She had already called her mother the day before and explained the situation as it stood regarding the endorsement interviews. The one thing she had conveniently forgotten to tell her mother was the truth behind her marriage-- most importantly, the fact that it was going to end within the next two weeks. Kagome thought it best to let them have this happy time and break it to them later.

"And the two of you came early because…?" Leave it to a mother to ferret at the truth.

"I wanted you and Grandpa to have a little time to get used to Inuyasha. With everything going on tomorrow and everyone around, I figured it best to let you meet him first." Kagome readied the cups as she spoke, her hands moving made it easier for her to bend truths.

"I suppose," her mother allowed, pouring the water. Then, as she watched her daughter out of the corner of her eye, Mrs. Higurashi launched her attack. "He's quite a handsome fellow. And a doctor as well. Any mother would be pleased."

Kagome knew this attack well, but still became nervous. "Yes, he is quite a looker and successful, but that's not why I'm with him."

"Why are you?" This was the real question. One might think this some kind of attack, or more some kind of parental disapproval. It was really the fact that Kagome had never been a woman to pick men that were good for her, and a mother did what she could to save her daughter from pain.

"He's sweet," Kagome stated. She figured it best to use the actual reasons why she was beginning to like Inuyasha as reasons for why she would stay in a relationship with him-- even though there would be no relationship. "He's stable and he makes me laugh. Inuyasha is just an over-all nice guy. The fact that he's easy on the eyes and comes from a good family doesn't hurt."

"I think you want my approval," her mother said as she spooned sugar into the cups. "But I can't give it to you yet."

"I understand," Kagome said.

"No, I don't think you do," her mother replied. "I want to see how he is with you before I make any type of judgment on him. I liked Hojo before I saw what he did to you, and look where that got us."

"I'm sorry, Momma," Kagome said with a sigh. "I know I've screwed up a lot, and I disappointed you."

Mrs. Higurashi wrapped an arm around her daughter's shoulders. "I have a lot of faith in you Kagome. Everyone makes mistakes, and you have made up for yours with everything you have done for us over the years. I just want to see you happy, darling."

"I _am _happy, Momma," Kagome said desperately.

"That's all I want," her mother said with a sigh.

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The tea had been drunk, dinner had been made and served and eaten by the four of them in a comfortable and relaxing setting. Mrs. Higurashi had gone to clear some things from Kagome's old room so it would be safe for Inuyasha and Kagome to stay in there. Grandpa had gone about his usual duties around the Shrine.

Kagome had happily elected herself for clean up duty. As she had told Inuyasha before, kitchen chores often calmed her, and doing them in her old kitchen in her old home made it feel like she was a teenager again. It was a small comfort, but one she could be afforded considering the circumstances. Inuyasha himself explored the house, getting a feel of the place.

In the large and immaculate kitchen, a small radio hung over the sink. Kagome had installed that herself in her youth, and now she happily turned it on, clicking through the stations to one of her favorites. Happily, she went about her work, putting leftovers away, washing and drying the dishes, putting everything in its proper place. If there was one unalterably female thing about Kagome, it was her undeniable domesticity-- she always knew her way around a kitchen.

As Kagome danced about and sung to herself, she never noticed Inuyasha's return. He just casually leaned against the doorframe of the room, arms crossed over his chest, watching her with a kind of humoring smirk. She had a very playful side to her that wasn't indulged nearly enough, and he figured, who was he to interrupt?

Of course, it didn't take Kagome too long to notice him. During one of her spinning movements around the linoleum-- when one is wearing socks, one can slide easily across a smooth surface-- she spotted him in the corner of her eye. And nearly dropped a plate.

"Goddamn it!" she swore. "Don't sneak up on people like that!"

"Sorry," he apologized while still smirking. Now he moved into the kitchen. Kagome only glared at him as he took the plate from her hand and placed it down on the counter.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked, a little surprised when he took hold of her waist with one hand and took her hand in the other.

"It's more fun to dance with a partner," he informed her before leading. Kagome was a little confused at first, out of practice and a little embarrassed, but fell into step soon after. How could she let him have one up on her?

"And where did you learn such fancy footwork?" she asked, laughing a little as he spun her out.

"Gym class in high school," he admitted. Kagome only laughed again.

"How did that happen?"

"I went to public school," he informed her. "It's required that all juniors and seniors take a marking period of dance while in gym. Though I have had practice over the years when attending many weddings."

"I wouldn't peg you as the public school type," she admitted.

"You thought I was some kind of trust fund baby who went to the best schools money could buy?" She blushed and it told him that was exactly what she thought. "No, I went to public schools. When my old man died, my inheritance covered medical school and insurance, most of my bills until I got on to my feet, but mostly all of it went to Sesshomaru."

"Because he's older?"

"Because he took over the business," Inuyasha corrected. "I never even pretended to show an interest in Dad's business empire. I wanted to be a doctor and I have since I was eight years old. So the bulk of the estate went to my brother, and I got enough to start myself off."

"I guess that sounds about right," Kagome said with a nod. "You didn't want to be like your father, why spend your life knowing you owe him for everything you have?"

"Pretty much." After another moment of silence, Inuyasha continued. "And what about you, my lady? Were you a public or private school girl?"

"Actually I was home schooled until I was fourteen," she admitted with a grin. "Then I convinced my Dad to let me go to public high school."

"Home schooled, eh?" He nodded and dipped her. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Right about what?" she asked with a laugh.

"Why you seem so set apart from this big wide world," he said in all seriousness.

"I wouldn't say that," she said, furrowing her brow.

"Don't get defensive on me, sweetheart," he smiled. "I mean that as a compliment." Kagome grinned as they continued their little dance across the kitchen.

Neither of them noticed Kagome's mother and grandfather poking their heads in from the other room. "Grandpa," Mrs. Higurashi said with a sigh and a smile. "I think we found a winner."

Grandpa sniffed. "As long as he doesn't try any funny stuff."


	6. Chapter 6: Tell No Lies

A/N: Okay my readers. Here is chapter 6 of Breaking the Rules. I am actually really bummed because I had this chapter written out a few days ago, but my disk ate the file and I had to write it over again. I was very upset... but I shall endure! Thanks to all my readers because this story has received over 200 reviews! I am so happy I could cry-- but I won't. I really hope you guys will read my other AU Inuyasha stories-- I have the two out now and then the series I am planning for the future!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters used in this story. I am only responsible for how I manipulate them to my will.

Breaking the Rules

Chapter 6: _Tell No Lies_

--Kagome's PoV--

First impressions mean a lot in life. We, as a race of beings, are always trying to impress each other into a certain point of view that society deems to be what we should look for. In our world, women have to be beautiful and thin if they want to be noticed. In our world, men have to be gorgeous and rich if they want a relationship. But for the other 98% of us that fit into neither category, we kind of float along through life.

I do not blame my problems on society. I blame myself for my disasters-- namely Hojo and Kouga.

Fitting myself into a set category never worked out for me. I tried to be everything everyone wanted of me, and all the time ignoring that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. For Hojo, I tried to be the perfect girl, brilliant and flawless and obedient. The kind of girl a smart, to-be-successful man would bring home to his parents and eventually marry. Of course, I couldn't fulfill this vision. My heart was broken for a while.

The second time, I tried to fit myself into this bad-ass image, where I hated the world and everything in it. That's how I met Kouga, and fell in love for the second time. That relationship was a whirlwind of anger and passion and tears. It was everything I was taught that a good romance was, steamy and painful and emotional. But in the end, the flame that had burned so brightly between us burnt out.

After that, after the pain of broken heart number two, I closed myself off to the world. I stopped trying to fit the mold of anyone's dream girl and just started to be who I was. I stopped caring about how the world saw me and started focusing more on how I saw myself. I guess that's why everyone went on this crusade to find me a boyfriend.

I didn't want a man in my life because I had leaned something from my bad experiences. When you love someone, you come to depend on them. You lean on them for support. You turn to them for help. You want them there, and when they can't be there, it hurts. I didn't want that. I had family and friends who I knew I could depend on. The only thing I really needed a man for was sex, but I could live without that anyway.

In my quest to protect myself from being hurt, I hid myself away. I didn't want to have to keep up impressions and assure men that I was perfect in every way they wanted me to be. I didn't want to learn to depend on someone and then have them go away.

Maybe that's why I was starting to like Inuyasha as much as I did. I didn't have to keep up the charade with him. I didn't have to pretend to be something I wasn't to keep him from leaving me. I could just be myself because what we were wasn't anything real. We weren't going to the prom, or to a dinner party, or to any star-studded event and have to play at being the perfect couple. We could just play around with one another, just have fun, and that was all.

Maybe my downfall was that I started to think that he liked me, even though I was just being my normal self. Or maybe it was that I was starting to like him even when he was dead tired, or playing with his dog. When you don't have to keep up impressions, half the stress of a relationship is gone.

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Kagura sat in her favorite easy chair in her almost always empty apartment. There was a half-drunk bottle of whiskey in one hand and an empty glass in the other. Half way between her second and third glass, Kagura had deemed it too long a wait to fill the glass and had skipped to drinking right from the bottle. The Gods would allow it this once; she'd had a bad day.

It was the first time ever that Kagura Nitao had called in sick from work-- and was positive there would be a million versions of why when she went back in on Monday. Maybe a few of them would actually be right. As it was, she tried not to think about it.

How could a woman who graduated top in her class from a good school and ran an efficient, successful business be so unrelentingly _stupid_ when it came to a _man_? Kagura never had been the type who would get caught up in a man. Men were not something that could distract her from the greater good. Then suddenly, Sesshomaru had become the focus of her life. Even now, after so long, she could hardly control herself in his presence.

She had thrown herself at a man... something she had never done. Something she had vowed never to do again, but doubted her treacherous heart would comply. Kagura had, for the briefest of moments, felt that old comfort when she was with him. Relaxation... no... relief. The kind of feeling a person gets when they know they don't have to face the bad things all alone, when they know someone else can be there to pick them up when they fall and hold them when they cry. Once, she felt that with Sesshomaru. When they had been together the night before, she had felt some of that again.

The phone was ringing again and she flinched at the sound. It was probably _him_ again, calling to see if she was alright after she had stormed out of his apartment that morning... or rather, that afternoon.

"God," she cried to herself. "How could I be so retarded?!" Desperately, she brought the bottle to her lips and took a draught, wincing a little as the heated alcohol burned its way down her throat. It made her mind foggy, just what she needed to drown out the thoughts and, more importantly, the feelings.

Her answering machine kicked on the background, but it wasn't who she thought it would be. "Kagura, this is Sango." Kagura would have gone to the phone, but she didn't want the publicist to question her from the earlier call. She didn't want anyone to see or hear her this way, wallowing in misery and weeping like a helpless female. "Listen, something was brought to my attention that I think you should see. I sent over a few file transfers to your e-mail. When you're feeling up to it, take a look at them." There was a second pause where Kagura heard another voice in the background and Sango laughing. "Well, we're heading down to Kagome's early tomorrow, I'll see you on Monday. Wish you could come with."

"Me too," Kagura grumbled, taking another swig of her bottle.

Sango hung up and a loud beep echoed through the apartment. Kagura shifted in her chair, finding a comfortable spot, cradling the bottle of whiskey on her lap. He would call again, of that she was sure. He'd already called four times that afternoon, and she ignored them all. Kagura would not be drawn back into a vulnerable place; she wouldn't go back to that ever again.

She had made a decision. She would never see Sesshomaru Saishi again.

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Sango, Miroku, and the three college boys arrived at the Higurashi home around ten the next morning to be met with a very well-rested Inuyasha and Kagome.

"I see the parents haven't killed you yet," Miroku commented to Inuyasha upon welcome.

"No, I think her Mom likes me," he said with a sheepish smile. "Though her grandfather looks like he wants to fillet me with a large hunting knife."

"Not to mention being left to bleed in the moonlight," Kagome added as she took Sango by the arm and led her toward where Grandpa and Mrs. Higurashi were waiting.

As always, the two senior Higurashis welcomed Sango and Kohaku into the house with warm hugs and parental questioning. Shippou, an orphan in his own right, was also looked upon by the Higurashi family as an adopted child once removed. When Miroku was introduced, Grandpa gave him a once over and deemed that he didn't like him. Mrs. Higurashi was more polite. Inuyasha only smirked at him, offering no help.

After about half an hour of idle chatting and tea, Grandpa decided it time to ready the Shrine for important company. He took the trio, Miroku, and Inuyasha with him. All five of them were grumbling as the old man set them each to an important task in making their home look presentable.

Kagome, who looked at the clock and nearly flipped out, began rushing around to make sure everything looked presentable. Mrs. Higurashi finally had to banish her upstairs to make _herself_ presentable. Sango went with, in case Kagome had a heart attack from stress and needed someone to administer CPR.

"They are going to rip my family to shreds," Kagome told Sango once they were upstairs in her old room. It was tidy as always, plain as ever, but still screamed Kagome in every way. Sango took a seat on the bed and looked levelly at her best friend.

"Dude, your family is so much stronger than you give them credit for. They will all do _fine_." Kagome nodded, rubbing her hands up and down her arms to work out the stress.

"You're right. They can do this. I can do this. Everything will be fine."

"Yes, it will," Sango coached. "Let's just get you into something clean and casual. They want you in a laid-back environment, but we can't have you wearing that old rum hat." Kagome grumbled, but smiled as Sango rifled through her closet and picked out some of her more presentable clothes. "I think this will do."

"If you say so."

Kagome changed before Sango began doing her hair-- reminiscent of their trip to Atlantic City. As Sango brushed and braided, she attempted conversation with her friend. "Tell me, how are things with you and Inuyasha?"

"How are things with you and Miroku?" Kagome countered.

Sango flushed and chuckled a little. "We're very good, thanks. Your turn."

"Fine," Kagome said with a little shrug. "We get along pretty well, apart from the fact that he's annoying and I'm obnoxious."

"I see you two are sharing a room," Sango said idly. "Does that imply a physical relationship?"

"If you remember correctly, we already did the deed the night we got married," Kagome said flatly, not really wanting to address her sex life-- even if it was with Sango.

"True, but you were drunk and the situation was different. Now you know him better."

"I don't fuck guys just because they're hot," Kagome pointed out. "I haven't even had sex since I left Kouga, before Inuyasha that is."

"Which is a shame," Sango injected. "You're wasting your beautiful body."

Kagome sighed, but allowed herself a tiny, wry smile. "I wasn't wasting it last night."

Sango's eyes widened as she leaned over to look Kagome in the face. "With your mother and grandfather just down the hall?" Kagome nodded and smirked. "You are so _bad_!"

"It's not like it's illegal or immoral," Kagome defended. "We _are_ married."

"You like him, don't you?"

"I won't go so far as to say that," the writer said doubtfully. "It's just a physical thing."

"Really?"

Kagome reached out and grabbed Sango's face in her hand. "You get too nosey sometimes. And yes, it's just about the sex."

"That's a shame," Sango frowned. "I think he likes you."

"That's one girl's opinion."

Sango shrugged and finished Kagome's hair. "What are you going to do once we get the endorsement?"

"I try not to think about it," Kagome admitted.

Just then, a knock on the door interrupted them. "Kagome," Inuyasha called through the door. "They're here." Quickly, both women leapt from the bed and scrambled down the stairs to get outside.

Sure enough, Naraku and Kanna were making their way up the stairs and toward the Shrine. Naraku carried a small notebook in which he was jotting down a few notes. Kanna carried her laptop, some lighting equipment, and camera supplies. Kagome shook her head at Naraku-- who was not paying attention to her in the least-- and helped Kanna. Kohaku, Shippou, and Souta helped as well.

"Miss Higurashi, this is a lovely home you have here," Naraku called after her when she began leading Kanna toward the house.

"Thank you," Mrs. Higurashi responded, waving Kagome on her way. "It's been in our family nearly one hundred years."

"I see." Naraku finally looked around at the family assembled and wrinkled his nose slightly. "Extended family?" he asked, zeroing in on Sango and Miroku.

"Friends considered family," Mrs. Higurashi said politely. "Won't you come inside? We are much better suited for taking care of company in the house then the courtyard."

"Thank you," Naraku responded, following where Kagome, the trio, and Kanna had went. Once catching up with them, he began explaining things to Kagome. "Kanna and I will interview each member of your family individually before we finish with you. Then we'd like to get some photographs of the property, and the family, for our investors."

"Of course."

"We'll speak with your mother first."

----------Taken from the interview with Mrs. Higurashi----------

"Mrs. Higurashi, would you please tell us in your own words how you would describe your daughter?"

Naraku and Kanna had taken control of the living room and closed the doors so that no one waiting to be questioned could overhear what was going on. The lighting was set up and Kanna had snapped off a few photographs before sitting with her laptop and recording the actual interview. Naraku sat in Kagome's father's chair, an old wooden rocker he had built himself as a teenager. Seeing this man in her husband's beloved chair made Mrs. Higurashi uneasy, and more importantly, annoyed.

"Kagome is determined and honest," Mrs. Higurashi said after a split-second of thought. "She's always had a wonderful imagination and she cares very much about others. I would say that my daughter is free-spirited and very good-hearted."

"Free-spirited?" Naraku asked. "Would you say she was a troublesome child?"

"No more so than other teenagers," Kagome's mother said evenly.

"So you're saying all teenagers are arrested for DUI when they're seventeen?"

Mrs. Higurashi flustered. "I'm not saying that Kagome hasn't made mistakes, but she had paid for them. What she did when she was seventeen years old does not affect the good work she does now."

"Indeed."

----------Taken from the interview with Mr. Higurashi----------

"Mr. Higurashi," Naraku said with a humoring smile. Grandpa Higurashi sniffed and looked back at him with a measure of distaste. "How do you like living here?"

"I've lived here since I was a boy of six years," Grandpa commented haughtily. "This is a place of spiritual worship and comfort to many people. I would never live anywhere else."

"Do you think your granddaughter likes it here?" Naraku asked, looking down into his notebook.

"Of course."

"Can you explain to me then, if she likes it here so much, that Kagome has not returned here in over eight years?"

Grandpa glared at Naraku with all the indignant injustice that is bestowed upon a grandfather to use in the defense of his much loved granddaughter. "Kagome was going through difficult times when she was a girl. Since she finished with school, she has been very busy."

"Too busy to come home?"

"Too busy caring about other people's problems and not enough about her own," Grandpa said. "Kagome misses her father. This place reminds her of things that are painful for her."

"I see."

-----------Taken from the interview with Souta Higurashi----------

"Souta, you are six years younger than your sister, correct?" Naraku asked for confirmation.

"That's right," Souta replied, settling into his chair across from Naraku. Right off, the boy didn't like the man interviewing him. There was something not right with him.

"Are you close with your sister, Souta?"

"I'd like to think we are," he replied honestly. "We didn't get along well when we were growing up, but that's only to be expected between older sisters and little brothers. Now, we talk more and we hang out almost every weekend."

"What type of things do you do together?"

"Well, Kagome usually invites me and my roommates over to her apartment on Saturdays and we'll watch whatever action movie that's new out on DVD or we'll order pay-per-view wrestling. Stuff like that."

"So you'd say your sister acts like... one of the guys?" Naraku asked, biting on the top of his pen.

"I guess," Souta said with a shrug. "She's been a tomboy most of her life, but she has her girl-points."

"I'm sure she does," Naraku commented, looking down into his notebook and smirking. "One more question." Souta nodded, confused by this line of questioning about his sister. What did her weekend activities have to do with how well she could write? "Is it true that your sister was born out of wedlock?"

Souta only blinked. How did he...? "No," he said while shaking his head. "Our parents were married before Kagome was born."

"But isn't it true that your mother was pregnant with your sister before she was married?"

"… Yes… But they were engaged before that, so it wasn't like they got married because of Kagome--"

"Thank you very much."

----------Taken from the interview with Sango Rae---------

"How long have you known Miss Higurashi, Miss Rae?"

Sango sat up straight, the picture of public relations and the epitome of calm, cool, and collected. She always did interview well, and it helped that she could talk her way out of a paper bag. "Four years now, since Kagome was hired on as a writer for _The Winds_."

"You became friends right away?"

"Yes," Sango admitted. "She was a hard worker but fresh out of college so I was asked to look after her while she found her feet. We just hit it off well."

"So you'd say she is one of your closest friends?"

"Yes."

"But she didn't invite you to her wedding?"

Sango inwardly winced. She had expected to be asked about the marriage in this interview, but he had snuck up on her and that never sat well with Sango. "They eloped, but I'm sure the invitation was just lost in the mail." Kanna stifled a laugh and was earned a glare from Naraku.

"Were you on that trip to Atlantic City with Miss Higurashi?"

"I was."

"So couldn't she have simply come to your room and asked you to come down to the chapel?"

Sango crackled the knuckles on her left hand, then her right, as she spoke. "As I understand, it was a spur of the moment decision that they get married. I was unavailable at the time either way."

"Unavailable?"

She tried to ignore the heat that came rushing unbidden to her face. "I was having dinner with a friend."

Naraku scribbled something in his notebook, smirking to himself.

----------Taken from the interview with Kohaku Rae----------

"State your name please."

"Kohaku Rae."

"How do you know Miss Higurashi?"

"I first met her through my sister, Sango Rae. The two of them were friends at work. I also know her because I have attended the same college with her brother, Souta, for the past two years and we share an apartment."

"Would you say you know Miss Higurashi well, Mr. Rae?"

"I suppose I do," Kohaku agreed, twiddling his thumbs. He was as good with people as Sango was, but he was also a little shier.

"When did you find out she was married?"

"Uh, I think it was three days later. The Monday following. She called and told Souta, who in turn told me and Shippou."

"So Miss Higurashi didn't tell you herself?"

"No."

"Do you think she's ashamed of her marriage?"

"No," Kohaku said with a frown. "I think she was just a little overwhelmed."

"I'm sure she was."

----------Taken from the interview with Inuyasha Saishi----------

"Mr. Saishi, you're a hard man to get an interview with," Naraku commented before getting to his questions.

Inuyasha kept a level gaze, but there was a condescending smile spreading across his face. "Well, that would undoubtedly be my brother's doing, not mine."

"Tell me how your marriage goes."

"It's still... new," Inuyasha explained, leaning back in his chair. This was a man who had lived in an ER for the past two years of his life, and had seen many horrific sights. An interview with this conniving little man didn't scare him in the least. "We're still adjusting to one another."

"I take it your relationship wasn't very serious before you married?"

"We had a spur of the moment marriage. It wasn't planned, it should have been, but it wasn't. Now we're still dealing with the repercussions. So far, it's been pretty good."

"Does it bother you that your wife hasn't taken your name?"

Inuyasha snorted. "I'm not the kind of guy who wants to repress her individuality. I think it's great that she wants to keep her own name and her identity. I wouldn't want her to change because of me."

"Do you think this marriage will last?"

"It will last as long as it's meant to last," Inuyasha said thoughtfully. "I can't tell the future any more than you can."

"True." Naraku nodded, thumbing through his notebook. "I hear this is your first time meeting the Higurashi family, how does that fair?"

"I met Souta prior to my coming here, but yes, this is my first time meeting Kagome's mother and grandfather. I think they like me well enough. Her mother is a dream and her grandfather... is like most grandfathers, I would assume."

"So you would say you've been accepted into the family?"

"I would go as far as to say that, yes."

"What about your brother, has he approved of your wife?"

Inuyasha paused, not entirely sure what his answer should be. Then he gave Naraku a lazy smile. "My brother has not yet given me his blessing, but then again, I wouldn't know what to do with it were he to give it to me."

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Naraku and Kanna left at around six that evening, after having Grandpa Higurashi take them on a tour of the grounds so Kanna could snap off a few rolls of film. Once they were gone, everyone was in a sullen mood. They ate dinner, held some conversation, but most were whispering grimly to one another about how their interviews went. Kagome shut her ears to the talk, preferring not to know about anything that anyone said.

Her own interview had gone the same direction most of the others had. They spoke of her expertise, her qualifications, and her family life. Naraku seemed to focus most of his questions on her father-- which left her feeling drained and angry-- and her past relationships, especially her previous failed engagement.

At around eight, when everyone was crashing and headed in their perspective rooms to watch television-- or to do whatever it was that they did-- Kagome took hold of her husband and dragged him off with her, out of the house and across the grounds.

"Where are you taking me?" Inuyasha complained for the third time.

"It's not much farther, I promise," Kagome said, tugging him by the arm. "Just over the hill."

The sun had set nearly two hours ago casting the Shrine and all the surrounding property into a measure of darkness that would have baffled anyone unfamiliar with the territory. Still, after so many years, Kagome could navigate the land with her eyes closed.

"I'm taking you to my favorite place on the grounds," Kagome said with a smirk. "And no, it's not as corny as it sounds."

"I'll believe you when we get there," Inuyasha replied, smirking at her happily. Kagome rolled her eyes and kept an iron grip on his wrist.

Stumbling only once in her eagerness, Kagome led Inuyasha over the final hill surround the house, and looked down. Sitting in the middle of an almost valley-like crevasse, was a hug tree. Branches wide and flowing lightly in the evening breeze, lit up by the surrounding fire flies, it looked like something out of a fairy tale.

"Wow," was all he could muster. It was a humbling sight, the massive tree.

"One would never believe that Grandpa brought this tree over in his pocket when he and his family came here from Japan."

"In his pocket?" Inuyasha asked, blinking in surprise.

Kagome smiled brilliantly. "Yep. He took a small twig from the original Shrine in Japan and brought it across the ocean with him. When the Higurashi family settled here for the Shrine, Grandpa planted the tree and it's been here ever since."

"Wow," he repeated, in even more awe.

"If you like this one, you should see the one it came from in Japan."

Inuyasha looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. "I take it you have?"

"Oh sure," Kagome said, with no trace of bragging in her voice. It was simply stating a fact as she grabbed his hand in her own and led him down toward it. "I went there when I was fourteen. My grandfather's sister and her family still live there, and my parents kept saying Souta and I should experience something of our heritage. Especially Dad; he was big on roots and history."

"Your dad one of those traditional Japanese men?" Inuyasha questioned, thinking of his own father and his sense of pride. He never wanted Inuyasha or Sesshomaru to forget where they came from, or what blood was in their veins.

Kagome laughed a little. When Inuyasha gave her a confused look, she smiled apologetically. "My dad wasn't traditional anything. He wasn't Japanese; he was Romanian."

"Romanian?"

"At least, that's what he thought he was." She smiled at him wistfully. "Dad was fascinated by different cultures mostly because he never knew where he came from. He was an orphan, you see, but he never knew his family or his real heritage. He didn't even have a last name."

"That's why you're…"

"I'm a Higurashi, like Mom and Grandpa and Souta. When my parents got married, Dad became a Higurashi." Kagome stuck her hands in her pockets as they walked beneath the huge tree. She looked up, catching sight of stars through the branches and watching the fireflies. "He tried so hard to learn everything about Japanese culture, and to raise me and Souta to always know where we came from."

Inuyasha listened, a frown etched upon his face. She had this sad look about her when she talked of her father, even when she was smiling. It made sense to him, as he watched her walk, sense as to why her skin was so fair, why her eyes were so blue. She looked a lot like her mother, but there was her father's blood in her too.

"You never told me what happened," Inuyasha said quietly.

"Happened?"

"To your father."

Kagome was silent, looking at him for a long moment before shaking her head. "When I was fifteen, I went ice skating with Souta and a few of my friends. Dad drove us, but spent most of his time on shore building a snowman and waiting to pelt us with snowballs when we came back." She paused a little to give a small chuckle before sitting down, back pressed to the tree. "The ice was thin on the far side of the lake. I told Souta not to go near it, but he was only nine and very inquisitive. While I was skating with my friends, he went to the far side. I heard the ice crack and saw him go in…"

Kagome shivered. Inuyasha settled in beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "You went in after him?"

"I _dove_," she said with a sigh. "My friends were screaming, but I grabbed Souta by the collar and pulled him out. They grabbed him and pulled him away, but the ice cracked under me and I fell. Dad came in for me, and he saved my life." Kagome felt the sensations of tears prickling the back of her eyes, and even then her heart began to hurt. "It wasn't until a few hours later that he got sick and we took him to the hospital. The water got into his lungs and he developed pneumonia. Two weeks later he died."

She sniffled, trying not to cry. It was a long time ago, but it still hurt like a fresh wound. Inuyasha pressed a kiss to her temple. "It's okay, sweetheart." Kagome nodded, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning into him for comfort. Inside, Kagome was laughing at herself. It was so easy to preach self-reliance, but so much harder to live it.

"I was very close to my father," Kagome whispered. "I miss him a lot, even after so long."

"I know how that feels," Inuyasha conceded, leaning back so he could look at her. With a smile, he brushed a stray piece of hair from her face. "My mother was the kindest person I ever knew, and I loved her more than I ever loved anything. But she had cancer and was sick most of the time when I was a little kid, until she died when I was eight. It was because of her I decided to be a doctor."

"To save other little boys' mothers," Kagome smiled. "Such a softy."

He kissed her, just a short, gentle kiss. It put both their minds at ease. "I guess I am a softy."

"I like softies," Kagome sighed, snuggling closer to him. "I don't think I've ever been with a softy."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh really, and what kind of men were you with before you struck gold?"

Kagome scoffed. "Confidence in abundance," she laughed. "Dare I think that you, oh great Inuyasha, might be jealous of my past conquests?"

"It depends on those conquests, my lady Kagome. And you'd better give me details now or else I may just have to enact my worst punishment."

"Oh, I quiver at the thought of what it could be," Kagome taunted, sitting up so that she was leaning her forehead against his.

"I'll deny you sex," he threatened, trying so very hard not to smile.

"You tell me yours, and I'll tell you mine," she said with a nod, standing firm.

Inuyasha shrugged. "Not much to tell really. Dated some in high school and early in college, but nothing serious. I've only ever had one real girlfriend. Her name was Kikyo and we went to med school together. We were together for… maybe four years, on and off. I wanted to go on to study emergency medicine, but she wanted a private practice. 'That's where the real money is' she said to me. Well I said 'later, bitch' and that's where I've been for about two years now. Miroku trying desperately for me to get laid, and me trying desperately to beat the women away with a stick."

Kagome stifled a laugh and he only grinned. "Your turn, sweetheart, and I refuse bullshit answers."

She smiled and shook her head. "Okay, I'll tell you. A deal is a deal." For a moment, she paused to collect her thoughts. "I dated a little in high school, but mostly I was really messed up during those first two years after Dad died. In my senior year, I started dating a guy named Hojo. He was this well-rounded, sweet albeit naive, stable guy. Everything that I wasn't back in those days. I thought, if I could be with a guy like Hojo, someone so together and perfect--"

"You mean dull?" he offered.

"Yes, he was dull," she laughed. "But he was kind. I thought I was in love… maybe I was, I can't really tell. When he went to college, I followed. We lived together for a while, and he proposed. No date was set or anything, I just wore the ring on my finger."

"Hm." Inuyasha took her hand in his and looked at the small gold band she wore on her finger. "I should get you a ring, you know, to make it look authentic."

"You digress a lot, don't you?"

Inuyasha laughed a little. "That's why I never get anything done."

She giggled and shook her head. "Shall I continue?"

"Please do."

"It was after we had been together a little over three years that my mother told me that I should break off the engagement. Everyone was telling me to do it, actually, but it was Mom I listened to. Hojo was, little by little, trying to force me into this mold of the perfect housewife who cooked and cleaned and would raise the 2.5 children in the house with the white picket fence… It just wasn't me. I was miserable really… but I just couldn't bring myself to admit that I could have a better life than I could with Hojo."

"I love your mother," Inuyasha said fervently.

Kagome laughed then, really laughed and hugged him. "She was right of course, so I left. Hojo didn't follow. I actually saw him about two years ago, married with two kids in that picket fence house. I wish him a lot of luck, I really do."

"So your biggest relationship failure was Hojo the housewife-maker?" Inuyasha questioned.

"Nope," Kagome said with a shake of her head. "After Hojo is when I met Kouga. Now if there was one man who was the opposite of Hojo, it was Kouga. Hojo was organized and passive and planned while Kouga was chaotic and aggressive and dangerous. He drove a motorcycle, had a sexy leather jacket, treated me like shit and did it with a smile. And I loved him with all my heart for as long as I could stand him."

"Wow," her husband commented with a frown. "You like bikers?"

"I liked him," she said. "I wanted someone the total polar opposite of Hojo. I figured… if I couldn't be Susie Homemaker, then maybe I could be some sexy biker chick. If I wasn't a good girl, then I had to be a bad girl, so I found the badest guy that would take me."

"Idiot," Inuyasha scolded. "You aren't good or bad. You are the perfect mix of both."

Kagome smiled up at him. "You really can charm a girl, you know that?"

"Of course," he said smugly. "I'm a player."

She laughed again, leaning up just enough to kiss him once more. "It took me two years to realize what you just said," Kagome explained when she pulled back. "That's when I left Kouga, graduated college, and started working for Kagura."

"Let me guess, he didn't follow either," Inuyasha finished for her.

"No," she said sadly. "I never saw him again."

"More fools they are," he said with a grin. "I get you all to myself now."

"You'd better treat me right," she warned with a lazy smile.

"On my honor as a gentleman," he offered.

"You're not a gentleman," Kagome said with a smirk.

Inuyasha moved and before she could resist, he had her pinned to the ground on her back. "You're right, I'm not."

Kagome bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing. Inuyasha leaned down and nibbled it himself. "I'll treat you better than those other fools, that I promise you."

"I'll hold you to that, Inuyasha," Kagome sighed.

"You won't have to, Kagome."


	7. Chapter 7: Vindicated

A/N: Sorry for the update delay my fans (and all the typos in this chapter!)-- but my most beloved and very talented beta reader is off on a summer holiday so I decided to focus my attentions away from my computer-- to try and find me a job. That and I switched my computer over to DSL, meaning faster connection and an entirely new e-mail set up. weeps Still, I type out this chapter with love to you, my doting fans! I'll have Cattykit edit this chapter once she gets home, so bear with me until then!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I don't even have a car. All I have are a few homemade cds that are the direct result of internet piracy. Arrr!

Breaking the Rules

Chapter 7: _Vindicated_

--Kagome's PoV--

When do you come to a place when it's safe to admit to yourself that something you feared for so long has finally happened?

What's more, when is it safe to admit that it wasn't what you thought it would be?

Here I sat, somewhere on the edge of losing my mind over the facts laying out before me. And I didn't care! Amazing as it sounds, as unbelievable as it may seem, I didn't mind in the least that I was going against everything that I had set for myself the past four years of my life. Here I was, coming off of this celibate crusade, living _and_ sleeping with a man I'd known less than two weeks.

It was like some kind of romance novel dream that I was living of a sudden. It was only then, after a long goodbye with my mother and grandfather and a quiet drive back to New York in the backseat of a limo with Inuyasha that I admitted to myself one fact that had me reeling and second-guessing for days.

I was in love. Something so easy to do, so hard to understand, and so frightening to believe.

Despite my reserves, and my doubts, I made myself come to terms that what I was feeling was something like I felt with Hojo and Kouga, only different. Inuyasha didn't try to change me. He didn't try to make me do anything. He didn't expect anything of me other than… to just be me. It was something different, and liberating, and petrifying.

I was being honest when I told him that I had never been with a softy. I had never met a man like Inuyasha, and I doubted that I ever would again. I loved how he could make me laugh, make me blush, and piss me off all in the space of a few minutes. I loved his eyes, and his lazy smirk, and the sound of his voice. I loved how we could hold a conversation about pizza toppings and make it sound like a political debate. Most of all, and selfish as it might sound, I loved how affectionate he was with me as a subconscious action-- as if not even knowing he was doing it.

It scared me, to think how badly this could go once the time was up and we got that annulment. Would I ever see him again? Would he even want to see me again? Could I really just shake his hand, say 'thanks for helping me out' and go back to being lonely?

I tried not to think too much about it-- preferring to enjoy the time we had together in the present rather than dwelling too much on the doom to come. Still it nagged at me.

Though I knew well enough to admit to myself that I was in love with Inuyasha Saishi, it was another thing entirely to admit to him-- or anyone else for that matter.

I couldn't tell this to Sango. She'd get so disgustingly happy that she was right that she'd make a mess of everything by telling Miroku. As much as I wanted to confide in Souta, he was a guy and wouldn't get it. I thought of telling my mother, but that would involve telling her all about the drunken bender and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I would have gone to Kagura, the one person in my life that I knew would never judge me on my feelings, but she was suffering from her own romantic entanglement and I would have felt like a raging bitch to dump my problems on her.

All I could do was keep silent and pray this wistful happiness lasted a little longer.

My luck never held out.

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Kagura Nitao sat in her office, sipping a vanilla chai and reading over a massive file attachment on her e-mail. Her ruby eyes narrowed as they raced across the financial charts, her mind reeling. It had been right in front of her the whole time, but she had been too blind to notice. Too preoccupied with an old fling.

She shook her head in disgust before grabbing the phone from her desk and hitting the speed dial button that would connect her with Yura's desk outside.

"Miss Nitao's office?" the voice said in a conversational manner. It was the kind of tone she used when she was playing cat's cradle under her desk and thought no one could tell.

"Yura," Kagura commented with a flicker of amusement.

"Hey boss lady," the secretary smiled into her headset. "What can I do for you?"

"I need you to call Sango and send her up here," the editor commented, her eyes on the computer monitor in front of her. "Hold my calls and reschedule everything I was planning to do the rest of the afternoon. I'll be in a meeting all day."

"Will do, ma'am," Yura said with a chipper nod. "Anything else?"

"Yes," Kagura said with an edge to her voice. "When the endorsement people get here, send them in."

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Sango walked into Kagura's office, a frown on her face. The room was dark and the blinds were closed over the huge windows. The only light came from the computer monitor, illuminating the woman behind the desk and little else. "Why is it so dark in here?"

"When one is hung-over," Kagura commented, typing on her keyboard and eyes never looking away from the screen, "one is sensitive to the light."

"You know," Sango commented, leaning her hip against the large desk and crossing her arms casually. "A woman of your prestige shouldn't be getting hammered lightly."

"Stuff it, Sango," Kagura snapped. "We've got bigger problems than my whiskey fetish."

"Oh?"

"I figured out who has been skimming our money," the editor growled, "and a total of six million has been filtered."

Sango gasped. "That's our entire reserve! Our investments won't pay out in time for the next two issues… we'll have nothing to run on!"

"I am well aware of that, Sango," Kagura replied dryly. "Which is why it's important we confront our embezzlers and get back our money."

"Who did this?" Sango asked, gripping the corner of the desk so hard her knuckles were turning white. Rage blazed in her eyes. Someone was threatening her friends, her work-- that never sat well with Sango.

"It was-- "

"Miss Nitao, the endorsement representative is here," Yura's voice interrupted loudly over the speakerphone. The door behind Sango opened and Naraku entered. Surprisingly, Kanna was not following.

"Miss Nitao, Miss Rae," he said with all the politeness a man of his character could conduct. "You sent for me?"

Kagura rose from behind her desk, a snarl on her pretty features. "Give it back."

Naraku looked startled. "Pardon me?"

"You heard me, you gender confused parasite!" The editor stomped around from behind her desk to come within a few inches of the man standing between her and survival. "You will give back every penny you have stolen from me or so help me God I will beat the living shit out of you _before_ I hand you over the cops."

"And don't think I won't take a few shots!" Sango barked, catching on and cracking her knuckles.

Naraku, who had quickly dropped the dazed and innocent act, only grinned slowly at both women. "Ladies, ladies," he said in a sing-song voice. "You are not in the position to be making threats."

"You're right!" Kagura yelled, her red-painted nails curling around the fabric of his shirt as she pulled back one of her fists. "It's the time for ass-kicking!"

"Kagura!" Sango yelled, grabbing her friend's arm. "Don't give him an excuse for assault charges."

"Always the practical one, aren't you Miss Rae?" Naraku laughed.

"Shut it, you hole," Sango snapped. "I'm not doing it for you." Kagura-- very reluctantly-- released her hold on Naraku and took a step back.

"Talk, worm," she ordered. "Why us?"

Naraku shrugged. "The men whom I represent like scamming independent companies. They are less likely to be missed once they fold-- or sell to bigger conglomerates. _The Winds of Change_ was just another notch in our belt-- an independently run company looking to expand. We just reaped the benefits."

His nonchalant attitude only served to infuriate both women. "Didn't you think we'd catch you?!" Kagura ground out between clenched teeth.

Naraku shrugged. "We expected it, but then again, we have robbed companies who never even noticed until after we were long gone. There are some of the more exceptional, such as yourselves, who do discover our activities. Still, we are never charged."

"You can bet your ass you will be this time!" Sango shouted. "You _will_ give us back what is ours, or you will rot the rest of your worthless life away in a rusting cage."

Naraku sighed, shaking his head sadly as he reached into his jacket. "I had truly hoped it wouldn't come to this." Both women froze, thinking he had some form of a weapon, but relaxed only slightly as he pulled out an envelope. Casually, he tossed it on to Kagura's desk.

"What the hell is this?" the editor asked, lifting the envelope and dumping the contents out across the table. In it were documents, recorded quotes, an old arrest record, mug shots, a marriage certificate, and several other scattered papers that made no sense to either woman.

"That is all the information that my assistant and I have collected on Kagome Higurashi," he said easily, stuffing both his hands into his pockets. "There is enough in there that, if released to the public, it would ruin her of any future career."

Kagura and Sango both stared at him, wide-eyed and silent. "Are you _blackmailing_ us?" Kagura choked.

"Yes," Naraku said with a grin. "Those papers are only copied. Originals can be sent out to the media at any time."

"That's insane!" Sango shouted. "We aren't going to let you get away with six million dollars of our money!"

"Then we'll ruin Miss Higurashi." He shrugged, as if a woman's life meant nothing. "The choice is really up to the pair of you. Which is more important, your hard-won business or the aspiring career of a talented young writer?"

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When Kagome received the message from Kagura telling her to come into the office, she noticed immediately that there was something wrong, just by the tone of her voice. It set Kagome on edge as she readied herself. Inuyasha was already at the hospital, working a double shift to make up for taking off two weekends in a row, so she didn't have to explain to anyone why she was going to work at one in the afternoon on a Monday.

The minute she stepped through the revolving glass doors at the office, Kagome felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle, the sense of impending doom caving in upon her. She knew that whatever was about to happen would not be a good thing.

Yura admitted her into Kagura's office right away, only making her more suspicious. Kagura always liked to make people stew outside her office for five or ten minutes, just for her own personal amusement. Shaking her head, Kagome entered with her back straight and her head high.

"Whatever made you call me in better be important," she announced. "I'm missing Jerry Springer."

Sango was there, sitting in one of the cushioned chairs in front of Kagura's desk, her head in her hands. Kagura, sitting behind the desk, gave her a weak smile and motioned for Kagome to sit. Just the sight made Kagome blanch. Either somebody died, or something bad was about to happen.

"Thanks for coming in so fast, Kags," Kagura said. "We have something important to talk to you about."

"No small talk," Kagome said as she took the offered seat. Already her throat was closing in fear. "Give it to me straight."

Sango looked up, her eyes haunted and sparkling with tears. "We were robbed," she said quietly. As quickly as she had spoken, Sango put her head back down. She couldn't trust herself to go on.

Kagura took the reigns, always the rock, always in control. "It seems that Naraku was working for a group of backers posing to be endorsement agencies." The simple statement sent a cold chill down Kagome's spine. "They tapped our reserve funds and wiped us out."

"No," Kagome breathed. The full force of the words was like a blow to the stomach, knocking the wind from her lungs.

"They took all of our reserves," Kagura continued, her knuckles white as they gripped the fountain pen in her hands. "There's nothing left to keep the magazine going."

Kagome thought she was having a panic attack. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't move. How could this have happened? Her throat was so dry the first time, her voice rasped so badly that it hurt. She swallowed a few times before trying again. "Did you catch him?"

"Naraku?" Kagura asked. Kagome nodded and the editor visibly winced. "We spoke with him earlier."

"Did you get him arrested?" Kagome asked fiercely. "Can we get our money back?"

Kagura sighed wearily. Kagome was struck by how fragile and tired her boss looked, so unlike the normal Kagura with boundless energy and a wicked sparkle in her ruby eyes. This Kagura looked older than thirty, she looked a hundred. "No."

Kagome surged forward on to her feet, fists slamming down on the desktop. "Why not?!" she demanded. "He stole from us, we ought to beat him into a meat pie!"

"Kagome," Sango softly called. Kagome whirled, blue eyes fiery as they met with her best friend. "We can't."

"Why the hell not?!"

Both women looked at her sadly, almost pityingly. Suddenly she knew, felt it like a rock in the pit of her stomach. Naraku had threatened her and neither of her friends, so fiercely loyal and loving, could never sacrifice her for the world. Kagome fell back into her chair, tears suddenly burning her eyes. "What did he say?"

"He gave us this," Kagura said as compassionately as she could, handing the envelope to Kagome. Forcing her stomach to settle and willing her heart to beat slower, Kagome opened the envelope and pulled out the papers inside with shaking fingers.

After a few minutes, she had to sit back or risk collapsing as every secret in her life, every mistake of her past and every haunting memory was laid out on her lap. Everything from her angry teenage years. Everything from her chaotic college days. Even testimonial about her marriage to Inuyasha. All of it lay out before her like the pieces to a surreal jigsaw puzzle. It had to be someone else's life. This couldn't be hers. This couldn't be happening.

But it was, of course.

"They would have released it," Sango whispered after a long and silent pause. "It would ruin you."

Kagome shook her head, blinking back the angry tears that were threatening again. "So you let them destroy the magazine?"

"Kagome," Kagura said, forcing the young writer to look up at her friend. "It's just money. This is your _life_ we're talking about."

Unable to hold all of them back, a few silent tears made their way down Kagome's face. She didn't sob, nor did she choke. She just cried with quiet dignity. "But what about everyone else?" she rasped. "What about everyone else who works for _The Winds_? What are you going to tell the rest of the employees when this place goes under? 'Sorry, but we had to protect one woman instead of all of you?'" Anger surged in Kagome now, a familiar emotion to block the guilt and pain gnawing at her stomach like a canker.

"Kagome, do you understand what's happening?" Sango asked, finally rising to her feet. "He would have _destroyed_ you!"

"Better me than the entire magazine," Kagome shot back. How was she supposed to live with herself knowing that she was the cause for failure of the beloved magazine?

"The magazine won't close," Kagura said monotonously. Both Sango and Kagome turned to her in surprise. "I can get a loan to keep us open for the next issue or so, until we're back on our feet."

Kagome felt a little better now, but looking at the envelope in her hands and the papers on her lap, she knew what she had to do. It had all been a scam anyway… what did it matter now? Gathering up the articles, she tossed them on Kagura's desk. "Consider this my resignation," she said with a sniff. "I quit."

The room lapsed into silence once more. "Kagome, don't do this," Kagura said at last.

"You don't have to," Sango said in desperation, grabbing Kagome's hand. "It's over, we'll get through this. It's not your fault!"

Kagome pulled her hand free of Sango and took a step back. "It could always happen again." The writer ran a hand through her hair with a strained sigh. "I have too many skeletons in my closet for this business. And what about the next Naraku? Or the one after that? How many times will you have to be punished because of me?"

"We're not being punished because of you," Kagura insisted. "We love you and we want to protect you, that's all."

Kagome smiled, eyes brimming. "I don't want to be protected." She looked lost for a moment, looking back and forth between Sango and Kagura. "I'm done with this." And with that, she turned and ran from the room.

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When Inuyasha came home from the hospital that night, he had been in good spirits. There hadn't been any fatalities on his shift. It was looking to be a beautiful night. He was looking forward to seeing his wife. It still felt a little strange to him, going home and having someone waiting for him who wasn't four-legged and furry. But it was strange in a good way. Strange in a way he found comforting.

His hopes for the evening were dashed however, when he saw Souta carrying the last of several cardboard boxes out of his apartment. The boy gave him a saddened look as he walked past, and Inuyasha knew something was happening. And it couldn't be good.

He found Kagome in his study, fixing the lamp and the chair and the computer to the exact way she had found it. There was a slow movement in her, some kind of weight on her shoulders that made her movements sluggish and tired.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha spoke quietly, not wanting to spook her.

"I'm moving back to my apartment," she said, not facing him. Her shoulders slumped and he heard the high pitch to her voice, as if she was trying not to cry.

"Why?" he asked, feeling something in his chest tighten already. She was leaving. Something in that statement made him feel hollow inside, like a part of himself was leaving rather than another person. In the short time they had been together, Inuyasha couldn't begin to count the ways in which Kagome had grown on him. He thought he was used to living alone, but when Kagome came into his life, with her fast tongue and her beautiful smile… how could he go back to silent nights and TV dinners?

"I quit my job at the magazine," she said, turning to face him so that he could see her now. Her blue eyes were rimmed in red, sparkling as if there were more tears to come. Still, she was smiling. It was small and tired, but it was there, and it made him feel as if his heart had just been ripped out. "There's no reason for me to stay here anymore. We can go back to our lives before this mess happened."

"Do we have to?" he asked quietly, a plea from the boy in him.

She looked at him for a long moment. Then she stepped forward and brought his mouth to hers in a searing kiss. Kagome poured herself into him, all the lingering sadness that seemed to seep into her very being and all the guilt, the doubt, and the resignation. She didn't believe she could ever be happy, so she never expected it.

This was a kiss of goodbye, and Inuyasha knew it.

When she pulled back, she rested her forehead against his, regaining herself. "I left my key on the kitchen table." Inuyasha's grip on her waist tightened, but she still pulled back.

Kagome paused in the hallway to scratch Jewel on the head. The white dog whined softly, knowing that her cat companion and her mistress were both leaving. Inuyasha followed, not knowing what to do or say, just knowing that if he didn't do or say something, Kagome would walk out the door and never come back.

Buyo's crate was sitting by the door, waiting for her to take him and leave. That would be it. She could curl back up in her little world and wait for it to explode, because it always did. She did a mental sweep, thinking of anything that she left behind. Kagome could feel Inuyasha lingering in the hallway behind her and knew that if she turned and looked at him, she'd never have the strength to leave. He couldn't know how much pain she was in.

"Kagome," he called haltingly as she grasped the doorknob. Still, she didn't turn. After a few seconds' silence, she turned the knob and opened the door, ready to walk out and leave the apartment. "Don't go," he whispered from behind her. Kagome felt her hands shake as she held Buyo's crate. She tried to force herself forward; to leave before her heart broke into another million pieces.

"Why not?" she asked, not being able to help herself.

Swallowing pride and fear and his own self-doubt, Inuyasha Saishi, a man who had healed and saved hundreds of people, who held the lives of people in his hands every day, did the bravest thing he had ever done in his life. "I think I'm in love with you."

There it was; the one sentence Kagome had been dreading. Half of her rejoiced. She had finally found a man who could love her in return. But the other half of her cried because she was going to leave regardless. Now it would only be harder. It was because she loved him that she couldn't stay, couldn't link herself to him. He had so much to give to the world. She would never forgive herself if she somehow harmed him, in reputation or standing.

Kagome Higurashi was the kind of woman that attracted bad men. It was just her luck that the only one to love her was a good man. To a normal woman, this would be a good thing, but like in most things, for Kagome, it was wrong.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha," Kagome said as the tears welled in her eyes, her back to him so he couldn't see how badly she wanted to stay, how much she loved him. With nothing more to say, she walked out the door.

Inuyasha stood in the same spot for an unknown amount of time. Be it minutes or hours, he couldn't tell. All he could feel was empty. For the first time in his life, he told a woman that he loved her, and she threw it back in his face.

Finally, movement returning to his arms and legs, Inuyasha walked into the kitchen. As expected, dinner was on the stove waiting for him. She even took time out to cook for him when she was leaving. His hands were shaking when he collapsed at the kitchen table. He stared hard at the key to the apartment that he had given to Kagome. The key sat on top of a small stack of papers. Taking a deep breath, he looked at them and felt the bottom fall out of his stomach. The annulment papers stared back at him.

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When Sesshomaru stepped out of the elevator on the floor of his apartment, he thought he was walking in some kind of a daydream.

Kagura stood a few feet down the hall from him, her back resting against the door of his apartment, her head resting in her hands so that he couldn't see her face. Without looking up, he knew she knew it was him, because she began speaking softly when he drew closer.

"I wasn't smart enough," she said barely above a whisper. "Or I was too preoccupied with something else. Or I just wasn't meant to be an editor. That had to be it. I'm just not good enough."

"Kagura," Sesshomaru spoke, bringing her out of her reverie. "What's the matter?"

"I should have known he was evil," she said, her voice clouding over with emotion. "You would have known it, but I just couldn't see it until after. I just couldn't see it."

"See what? What happened?" His concern was mounting with her distress. Something had happened to her and it had to have been bad to make her second-guess herself. Kagura was one of the most confident people he knew.

She scoffed a little, in a self-loathing way. "My representative stole money from me," she said, tears now evident in her voice. "All my reserves, everything I had in my business… and I had to let him go because he would have destroyed Kagome." Kagura looked up at him then, her ruby eyes misting over and her face full of pain. "You would have seen it, wouldn't you? You would have known."

Sesshomaru did the only thing he could do. He enfolded her in his arms and held her while she cried against his shoulder. His heart constricted, feeling her pain as if it were his own. This is what it meant to be in love, to feel what the other person felt, be it happiness or sadness. This was what he felt when he was with Kagura, and was why he felt empty whenever she wasn't with him.

She quieted after a while, enough for him to unlock the door and lead them both inside. Once he had her seated on the couch with a box of Kleenex by her side, he was able to get the entire story from her. Kagura told him about the fake interviews, the secret money scamming, and blackmail about Kagome. Even about Kagome quitting.

"If Kagome is gone, then you can go after this Naraku person, can't you?" Sesshomaru asked, wiping a stray tear from her cheek in a gentle action that made Kagura feel like crying all over again.

"I tried, but he's gone. I don't have any idea how to track him down or where to even begin looking." She felt defeated, and worthless. "My reserves are gone with him."

"I would offer you my help," he said quietly. "If I thought you would take it."

Kagura looked at him with bright ruby eyes, eyes that said pride meant nothing in the face of destruction. "If you still offer it, then I would gladly take it."

Sesshomaru's face betrayed a ghost of a smile. "I would willingly make a contribution to _The Winds of Change_."

Playing off a reckless note, Kagura looked him in the eye. "What about a contribution to me?"

A little taken back, Sesshomaru studied her for a silent moment. "Will you disappear again?"

"Will it be like it was before?" she countered.

There was a moment of silence between them before Sesshomaru shook his head. "No."

"No," she echoed in answer to his question. There was hope in her eyes now.

"I can't offer you much, Kagura," Sesshomaru said with unease.

"All I want is you," she replied. "The rest I can get for myself."

"Deal," he agreed. They shook hands all the way to his bedroom.

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Kagome sat in her apartment, an open bag of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish crackers next to her mouse as she searched Monster.com. It had been a slow few weeks, mostly consisting of her staying at home, dodging phone calls from worried friends and family. She talked when she had to, went out as little as possible, and tried as much as possible to lay low. A few reporters had even come by, trying to interview her, but she had had enough of interviews.

Her mother had offered to come spend a few days with her, but Kagome turned her down. Right now, the unemployed writer was seriously giving thought to moving back home. New York was becoming to unwelcome for her. In fact, she had become so intensely miserable, she had even caught some kind of a virus a week or so before.

Buyo was curled up at the feet of her computer chair, and every so often Kagome would bend over to scratch his ears. The obese feline had been feeling extremely neglected since they had left Inuyasha's apartment a little less than a month ago, so Kagome tried her best to keep him happy and well loved. It was also helping her cope as well.

A knock at the door made her jump a little in her chair, despite the fact that she was expecting whom it was. "Come in, Sango," she called. The door opened, admitting her best friend without much dramatic fanfare.

"You really shouldn't leave the door unlocked," Sango cautioned as she walked into the living room.

"I know," Kagome replied, getting to her feet. "Ready?"

"I guess," her friend replied. "I'm still wondering why you asked me to come with you."

"I don't want to go alone," Kagome admitted with a frown. "I get nervous when I go alone, even when it's nothing." Sango nodded and retrieved Kagome's coat for her. Locking the door behind them, the two women exited the apartment building and hailed a cab.

"How's the magazine doing?" Kagome asked once they had given the address to the cab driver.

"Very good. Sesshomaru's 'contribution' has been helping pick up the slack. He also gave us a few ideas to help fill the gap left behind when you left." Sango cracked her knuckles as she spoke-- an increasingly bad habit she picked up from Miroku now that they were living together. He almost burned the apartment down from a grilled cheese accident, and she almost threw him out a window because of it, but other than that, they were the perfect couple.

"It seems like he's been helping Kagura a lot," Kagome said with a smile, looking out the window.

"Yeah," Sango agreed. "He really makes her happy, and it's all the time now. She keeps talking about trying to get you to come back to us."

Kagome shook her head. "I'm done with _The Winds_, maybe not for good, but for now. I just want to concentrate on getting my life together."

Sango nodded. "I take it the annulment went through?"

"My lawyer called a few days ago. It's official. I'm single again." She didn't sound entirely happy about that, and Sango didn't blame her. It was then that the cab pulled up next to the address they desired. Sango paid the fare, saying Kagome could get the payment home, and they entered the building. The two women took the elevator to the sixth floor and walked down to the office at the very end of the hall.

A waiting room graced them, sterile and quiet and empty. The only life was the woman behind the desk, to which Kagome walked over. "Kagome Higurashi, I have an appointment," she said. The woman checked a clipboard and nodded.

"Have a seat, doll," she drawled. "The doctor will be with you in a minute."

She and Sango sat in silence for a few tense minutes before Kagome was called into the office. Sango waited in the quiet, sterile room. She hated doctor's offices, so she fidgeted unbearably for the entire twenty minutes it took Kagome to see the doctor and come back.

Kagome immerged a while later, looking decidedly ill. She was pale and trembling and muttered that she had puked while with the doctor. Sango worriedly paid the bill for her and helped her friend to a cab. "Don't worry, Kags," Sango said with a reassuring smile. "I'll get you home." Her friend nodded, but was still shaking badly all the way. "Did the doctor give you a prescription that we can get on the way back?"

Kagome shook her head.

Sango found this odd, but didn't comment. Instead, she paid the fare and walked Kagome up to her apartment. Only once they were inside did Kagome burst into tears. Sango, who was increasingly frightened, sat Kagome down on the couch and faced her.

"Kagome, what's wrong? What did the doctor say? Is the virus that bad?"

Kagome shook her head, sobbed again, then sniffed deeply to get herself under control. "I'm not sick," she said brokenly. "I'm pregnant." Sango was utterly silenced. Kagome continued talking, just because the silence was killing her. "It must've happened in Atlantic City. The doctor said I was six weeks along." Suddenly a fresh wave of tears broke on her. "Oh God!"

Sango, roused from her shocked state, gathered her friend in her arms and held her. "It's going to be okay, Kagome," she assured her friend. Truth coursed through her. Kagome was like a sister to Sango; she would make sure it was okay.

Her first step of making sure everything would be okay would be killing Inuyasha.

**A/N:** Haven't done a bottom Author's note in a while. I just want to announce that there is one--and only one--more chapter to this story. Then it's done. Caput. Over. No sequel, no tie-ins. Over, forever! No begging for sequels. No wishing for more. I'm washing my hands of this. I have bigger and better plans, my beloved readers. You'll see!


	8. Chapter 8: Meant to be Broken

A/N: Okay my beloved readers, here it is: the final chapter of my MINI-SERIES known as _Breaking the Rules_. I was actually surprised because some of you still ask for me to extend this story. Obviously those people don't read Author's Notes because I stated from the beginning that this was a planned 8-chapter venture. I'm sorry everyone. After this, I have nothing left for this project. Anything else would be rushed and lame and I won't do that to all of you. I have other plans! I still have to finish _Curse of the Gypsy_ and start my trilogy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or anything related to that. I own the Spiderman and Spiderman 2 novels because I am an obsessive fangirl.

Breaking the Rules

Chapter 8: _Meant to be Broken_

--Kagome's PoV--

There are rules for everything in this world. Rules to drive your car, to do your homework, and even to eat your food. Sure, most of them are unwritten rules. The kind your parents teach you when you're still green to the way things are, and pick up as you go along. Still, there are rules nonetheless.

There are even rules in love.

The first rule of love is that you should always walk into something with you eyes open, with a clear head and an open mind.

The second rule of love is that you should never let your hormones rule over your head. Common sense is the key-- keep your mind open when going into something because you never know when one carefree night will come back to bite you in the ass.

The third and most important rule of love is probably the most simple. If you find love, real love, the kind of love worth waiting a lifetime for, the kind of love people jump through hoops for, then you should fight to keep it. Anything worth having is hard won. And anything worth fighting for is good for a lifetime.

I broke all of my own rules in the space of a few weeks.

In some small part of my heart, and a bigger part of my mind, was telling myself that I was doing the right thing. My head was saying that it was better this way, that things were too out of hand and that everything I had ever done had only hurt the people around me. I didn't want to hurt Inuyasha. But more over, I didn't want to be hurt. In my heart, that small black part that had hardened a little more with each man who never came back to me, I always suspected that I would leave and that he wouldn't come after me.

I am not the kind of woman that men chase.

I'm good for a fun night, a good time, and a few laughs. Not much else, when it comes to men.

At least, that's always what I always believed. I mean, if I were worth coming after, why didn't the others do it? If I was something special, why didn't the men I picked, the men I loved, ever love me enough to come for me?

Sure, I'm not that much of a looker. I may not drive men to a fit of passion on sight, or suck jewels and declarations of love from them with a crook of my finger, but I'm not repulsive. I'm not without my flaws.

But didn't they always say that the third time's the charm?

Well, I was knocked up by number three. I was hopelessly in love with number three. I was scared, I was lonely, and I was wishing beyond anything that he would come rescue me like he always joked about doing when we'd lay in bed together and talk about comic book superheroes.

So tell me this, where is the charm in number three?

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"She's _what_?" cried Kagura from behind her desk. Sango stood in front of her, sadness etched upon her face as she looked over at her friend and boss.

"She's leaving New York," Sango said again, even sadder now than the first time. "She's moving back in with her mother and grandfather."

"But why?" Kagura asked, her voice holding a thin trace of a whine and her ruby eyes suspiciously bright. "We would help her! I'd give her a job in a second! She could move into my apartment. I have an extra room and it's huge. God, _we could help her_!"

Sango nodded, dark eyes welling in spite of herself. "I told her that. I begged her even, but Kagome is so _stubborn_."

"Is this about the baby?" Kagura said suddenly.

Sango shrugged her shoulders. "Your guess is as good as mine. She said she was thinking about moving even before she found out."

"So she told her mother?"

"I don't think she told them she was pregnant yet. So far, the only ones who know are you and me."

Kagura threw her hands up in anger. "She's not even going to tell him, is she?"

"Probably not," Sango said while rubbing her temples. "It kills me that I can't tell Miroku, who could in turn tell Inuyasha. It's just… unfair. The entire situation."

"Why…?" was all Kagura could manage before collapsing into her chair, quickly nearing angry tears. "Why wouldn't she tell the man that she's having his kid!?"

Sango only shook her head. "That's something you'd have to talk to her about. I really can't tell what is going on in that girl's mind anymore. All I know is that she looks so… broken. It's just so bad right now."

Kagura rubbed her eyes with her fingers, shaking her head. "I don't think we can survive without Kagome."

"The magazine will be f--"

"I don't mean the magazine," the editor said, looking up at her friend with a frown. "I mean us."

Sango was silent, but she felt the same way. Something would disappear from both of their lives when Kagome left, and nothing would ever make it right. This was not a change considered to be a good one.

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When Sango arrived home that evening, she slowly took off her jacket and hung it on the coat rack next to the door. She placed her keys in the bowel on the kitchen counter. It was the same routine she did every night, but tonight it exhausted her for some reason.

Miroku was home; she could hear him singing in the shower-- horribly off-key, too. It relaxed her though. Sango reminded herself to be grateful for what she had. A great job, a wonderful boyfriend, and friends as dear as blood. She had a blessed life compared to what she was living before. When her parents had died, it was up to her to take care of Kohaku until he began college. It was the most difficult time in her life, trying to be a sister and a mother and a student all at once.

In the end, the rewards far outweighed the struggles.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Miroku walked out of the bathroom, wrapped in her fluffy pink bathrobe with a towel wrapped around his head. Sango only raised an eyebrow.

He grinned. "My robe is in the laundry," he explained. "And I didn't feel like walking around naked."

"For once," Sango said.

Miroku smiled again. "It's too cold to just wandered aimlessly. I would, however, be more than happy to do so if you are making a formal request."

She only shook her head and held out her hands to him. Miroku, smile fading into a look of concern, walked over and took her hands. "What's wrong?" He could tell by the look in her eyes that she was fighting back tears.

"Everything is just so screwed up," she confided, biting her bottom lip. "Kagome's leaving."

Miroku opened his mouth to protest, and then closed it in shock. Kagome… leaving? "Does Inuyasha know?"

Sango shrugged. "I doubt it. They haven't exactly been in contact since she moved out."

"He'd want to know if she was leaving," Miroku said with assurance. "Believe me. I just saw him today and he was a total wreck."

Sango looked up at him. Her expression said that there was something else, but she just didn't say it. Miroku, who could read her like an open book, kneeled in front of her and took her face between his hands. Sango leaned into the contact, needing the comfort. "There's something else, isn't there?" he asked.

"I promised Kagome…" she said with a sniff.

"You don't have to tell me," he said with infinite patience. That was one thing Miroku was good at, excelled at. He was, despite being somewhat of a fool, a very honest and comforting person. He was just one of those warm, all around good guys that everyone was drawn to.

Sango shook her head. "You can't tell anyone."

"I won't."

"Promise me," she pressed.

"I promise."

Sango sniffed deeply, nodding her head before meeting his eyes. "Kagome's pregnant."

For a moment, Miroku could say nothing, do nothing, but just stare at her in open amazement. His mouth opened and closed a few times, making him look almost fish-like. Sango began to think she shouldn't have said anything. It was just hard for Miroku to comprehend that _Kagome_, of all people, would be pregnant.

"Is it… Inuyasha's?" was the first thing he asked.

"Who else?" Sango countered. "He's the only one she's slept with in God knows how long."

Miroku shook his head, getting to his feet. There was silence in the kitchen for a few minutes as he tugged the towel from his head in order to run his hands through his damp hair. Finally, he turned back to Sango with a dark expression. "He has no idea, does he?"

"No," Sango agreed. "Kagome doesn't want him to know."

"But it's his _kid_," Miroku said seriously. "He has a right to know."

"I know, but it's Kagome's decision to tell him."

"Is that why she's leaving?" he questioned.

"That's what we think."

"We?"

"The only other person to know, apart from you," she explained, "is Kagura."

Miroku shook his head angrily. "This is insanity."

"Now you know why everything is fucked up," Sango said with a watery sigh. Miroku turned back to her with a soft frown. The tears held at bay since Kagome broke the news to her finally spilled.

"Come here," Miroku said as he wrapped his arms around her. "It'll be okay."

"I don't see how," she mumbled against his shoulder.

"We'll find a way."

-----------------------------------------------------

He wasn't gay.

That was the first thing people began whispering about once Sesshomaru announced his intention to refinance the magazine known as _The Winds of Change_. It was a well-known fact that _The Winds _rivaled _The Western Lands _since its publication, so naturally it made people wonder why they would be helping out the competition if they were about to fold. Then they realized it was because Sesshomaru Saishi and Kagura Nitao, the editor of said magazine, were romantically involved.

First thoughts were that it was just a show for the public. Or that she was using him for his money, and then would dump him once she got it. But weeks passed since the money changed hands. _The Winds _was still going and so was the relationship between the two editors.

Now the truth was known. Sesshomaru wasn't gay-- he had just been saving himself for the right woman.

Well, he had found her, and no one could be happier than Jaken. Since his boss's renewed romance with Kagura, the poor little male secretary had been given a lighter load due to Sesshomaru's more pressing social calendar. It also pleased the little man that his boss was happy-- considering he had been working for Sesshomaru since his father ran the business. The boy had never been a very happy person, except during the time Kagura was in his life.

So here it was, a standing relationship between two rival editors. There was talk of a merger, but Kagura firmly said that there would be no such thing anytime soon. They would still independently run their own magazines, though there would be consulting done, as per condition of the contract Kagura signed to receive the refinancing.

Still, it was a rare sight to see Kagura stomping into Sesshomaru's office in the middle of the afternoon. Jaken, so flustered by her appearance, didn't even have time to buzz a warning to his boss before the female editor stormed passed the doors.

Sesshomaru jumped, looking up from his files with a raised eyebrow when the doors were slammed after her dramatic entrance. "Can I help you with something?" he asked calmly.

"What I am about to tell you is in confidence," she said seriously.

Sesshomaru put down his pen and crossed his arms of the books, the picture of intent listening. "Go on."

"Kagome is leaving New York," she began in a rush. "We don't know exactly why, she won't go into details, but Sango and I think it has to do with the fact that she's pregnant with your brother's child." With that, she promptly sat in a chair opposite his desk and frowned. "Is that fucked up, or not?"

There were a few moments of silence when Sesshomaru didn't do so much as move a muscle. Finally, he took a breath, cocked his head to one side and spoke. "Let me get this straight. Kagome, my little brother's ex-wife, is pregnant with his child, but is leaving the city?"

"Yes," Kagura agreed.

"Is he aware of any of that?"

"No."

"Not the child or her leaving?"

"No."

"I'd say that is a problem."

"Yes."

They were silent again for a while. Sesshomaru reached for the phone on his desk, but Kagura grabbed his hand. "What are you doing?"

"Calling my brother," he said evenly. "Inuyasha may be an idiot, but if he's to be a father, I think he has the right to know."

"I told you that this was in confidence!" Kagura objected. "That means _no telling Inuyasha_! We promised Kagome."

Sesshomaru shook his head and removed his hand. "If it's his child--"

"No," Kagura said firmly, defensively. "Kagome would never lie about the father of her child. It _is_ Inuyasha's."

"Then why doesn't she want him to know?"

Kagura shook her head. "If I knew, I'd tell you, but I don't. She just said she's leaving and that's it."

"Foolish girl," he said with a sigh.

"I don't know what I'm going to do when she's gone," Kagura said quietly.

Sesshomaru reached across the desk and took one of her hands in his. "Then we'll just have to make sure that she doesn't leave."

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It was around nine at night and the streets of New York were dark, apart from the headlights and streetlamps. Two cabs pulled up in front of the same apartment building within seconds of each other. Kagura and Sesshomaru exited the first cab while Sango and Miroku exited the second. For a moment, both couples simply stared at each other.

"What are you doing here?" Kagura and Sango asked each other at the same time.

"We're here to talk to my brother," Sesshomaru replied.

"We're here to talk to my friend," Miroku voiced at the same time.

Both women glared at each other. "You're breaking a promise!" they yelled simultaneously.

"You're going to tell him she's leaving!" Kagura accused.

"You're going to tell him about the baby!" Sango countered.

"We're all here for the same reason," Sesshomaru said with his usual calm. "Why don't we just get this over with?"

"We have to hurry," Miroku reminded. "Kagome's leaving in the morning."

With that reminder buzzing in the air, all four entered the building and headed for Inuyasha's apartment. He was home too, surprisingly. He was sitting on the island in his kitchen, drinking a beer and throwing a ball into his living room for Jewel to fetch. The dog had been feeling pretty low since Buyo left, and he was attempting to cheer her up while getting plastered.

A knock on the door interrupted their game, and Inuyasha hopped off the counter to get the door. He only gave a questioning glance when he saw all four people at his doorway. Luckily for them, he was not yet drunk, or else they would have made the trip for nothing.

"Can I help you?" he asked in mock severity. Then he pushed the door open and began walking back to the kitchen. If they followed, fine. If not, he didn't much care. They followed.

"Inuyasha, we have to talk to you," Miroku said, catching up with his friend.

"It's about Kagome," Sango added, coming up on his other side.

Just the sound of her name made him flinch. The pain he had endured from that woman was enough to last him a lifetime. He'd washed his hands of her. "I don't care," he said darkly.

"You will," Miroku said gravely.

"I highly doubt that," his friend replied, shaking free of Miroku's grasp and hopping back onto the counter in the kitchen. "Though I am happy to have so many people here just to tell me that something's wrong with my ex-wife."

"Can the bitterness," Kagura said with a frown. "You're not the only one allowed down the self-pity trail, okay?"

Inuyasha only smiled as he took another gulp of his beer. "I thought it was supposed to be a lonely road," he laughed.

"Inuyasha, thinks have changed," Sango said delicately. "There are things we think you should know."

"Such as?" he asked with a smile and a questioning look. They could tell that he didn't care. He was sarcastically humoring them; that was all.

"She's leaving," Sesshomaru said. It was the first time he had spoken since he came in. Now he walked forward, motioning for the others to back off and let him talk to his brother. Kagura hooked an arm around both Sango and Miroku, steering them into the living room.

"Let him deal with Inuyasha," she told them. "He knows what to do."

Inuyasha only looked at his brother with vague interest. "Leaving you say? She already left, brother dear."

"She's leaving New York, moron," Sesshomaru said dryly. "Moving back home with her mother."

"What do I care?" Inuyasha asked, his mood shifting to anger now. He drank more, trying to shove the hurt to the back of his mind.

"You care," Sesshomaru said simply. "You care because you're in love with her. And you'll care even more because she's pregnant."

The beer stopped halfway to Inuyasha's mouth. His head turned slowly, amber eyes burning when his gaze met that of his brother's. "If you're lying to me…"

"I have no reason to lie," Sesshomaru said simply. He waved a hand toward the door. "Those three out there have been running about like chickens without heads, trying to decide whether to tell you or not since Kagome doesn't want anyone to know."

"She's pregnant… you're sure?"

"We're sure," Sango said from the door. "I went to the doctor with her."

"We think that's why she's leaving," Kagura added.

"We also think you should go after her," Miroku concluded.

Inuyasha was silent for a long moment, his head down to shield his expression. Finally, he hopped off the counter and shook his head. "She made her decision. She dumped me. I'm not going to go beg her to come back."

"But, Inuyasha," Miroku objected. "Look at yourself! You're a mess, man." He shook his head and sighed. "If you love her, then you should go after her. It's that simple."

"Especially since she's having your kid," Sango added with attitude.

Inuyasha shook his head. "If she wanted me in her life, she wouldn't have left. And she would have told me about the kid." With more resolve he stated, "No, I'm not going after her."

------------------------------------------------------------------

Kagome took one last, sad look around her apartment. It was always so homey, so cluttered and lived in. It was the first place she had ever lived on her own, and she would miss it. All the posters and pictures had been taken from the walls, giving it an abandoned look. The stain on the carpet where she had once spilled a bottle of Arbor Mist looked at her sadly from the corner of the living room.

All of her things had been packed up and shipped out to the Shrine already. The rest she had given to Souta that morning. He and Shippou had generously agreed to drive her things back to New Jersey while she caught a train later that morning. Kohaku, due to his job, promised to do a final cleaning to the apartment after she was gone.

It was a bittersweet moment for Kagome, letting go of something so precious to her in the wake of embracing something new. She placed a tentative hand over her abdomen and allowed herself a moment of weakness.

"At least I have a part of it," she whispered to the empty apartment. "Part of that time when I was truly happy." _Part of Inuyasha_, was silently added.

Buyo had been driven down with the boys, so all she had with her was two envelopes. Tucking them beneath her arm, Kagome turned and walked from her apartment for the last time. She went to the street and hailed a cab heading for the home office of _The Winds_. She never looked back.

Upon arriving at her old place of business, she was the recipient of many looks. Some were happy, warm in greeting and hopeful of her return. Others were harsh, an underlying message to get out and stay away. She didn't heed either, as she strode in the elevator and got off on the last floor. She nodded to Yura, who had been aware of her arrival, and walked into Kagura's office.

The editor leapt to her feet. She had not been informed that Kagome was coming. And apparently Sango was unaware as well, since she froze when the ex-journalist strode inside. Yura had called her up.

"I wanted to say goodbye before I left," Kagome said with a sad smile. "My train is in an hour."

Sango moved forward in protest. "Kagome, please--"

"I wanted to give you this," she overrode with determination. She handed the two envelopes to Kagura. The first was a huge manila package that she easily slit open with a long nail. Dumping the contents on to her desk, she gasped and looked from Kagome to the papers.

"How did you get this?" she breathed. Kagura's hand fluttered very close to her throat and she looked ready to cry.

"What is it?" Sango asked, hurrying to the desk to see. Spread on the desk were papers regarding the whereabouts of Naraku and his investors, as well as proof of their attempts to blackmail. There was a location of where the stolen money had gone, and even three files of police reports.

Kagome smiled. "Kanna, Naraku's assistant, came to my apartment yesterday. She gave me all of this and asked me to give it to you. She's disappearing, and I'm not going to ask you to find her."

"Why did she do this?" Sango asked, picking up a few files.

"She hated Naraku," Kagome said with a frown. "She only worked for him because, believe it or not, he was her father. He used her, ignored her, and made her miserable. You know," Kagome smiled slightly, "she told me that I was the only person who ever offered her a soda."

"She gave up her father over a soda?" Kagura asked with a raise eyebrow.

"I think it was being noticed," Kagome replied.

"What's in this one?" Sango asked, picking up a smaller white envelope. Opening it, she pulled out a few typed pages.

"My final article," Kagome declared. "I'm going to try something new now." She looked down at herself, a hand over her stomach, then she looked back up at her two friends. "I never wanted to be a journalist, or an advice writer," she admitted. "I always wanted to be a great novelist. After my father died, I just couldn't find a way to tell stories like I used to. That's why I took this job, Kagura, because I couldn't do what I wanted."

"But you can now?" the editor asked.

Kagome smiled. "I have a new reason to. I'll have a fresh mind to infect with stories soon." There was a brief pause before Kagome rushed forward and hugged both Sango and Kagura. They embraced her as well, holding on as if they would never let her go.

Eventually, when she did pull back, they were both in tears. Kagome sniffled. "Don't cry," she begged. "You'll make me start!"

"Don't go," Kagura said roughly. "We can take care of you. It doesn't have to be this way."

Kagome shook her head. "This is what I want."

With that said, the former writer walked away. She couldn't look back, lest her resolve crumble. This was another chapter closed on her life, something she would look back on and learn from and tell her baby about for years to come. With a self-affirming nod, Kagome left for the train station.

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The train had come. It would be departing within the next ten or fifteen minutes. Kagome had no idea why she was so reluctant to get on board. Every time she got within a few feet of the doors, she'd inexplicably burst into tears and have to rush away until she could get herself under control.

She kept telling herself that this was right. That this was what she wanted. But it was a lie. What she wanted was to tell Inuyasha how she felt, to tell him about the baby, to ask him to let her stay. She wouldn't do that. Perhaps it was pride, or even fear, but she was dead set against ever seeing the man again.

Shaking her head, she sat on one of the small benches, trying to summon the courage to get on board the train. She held her head in her hands, finding her inner strength. Or at least, she had almost found it, when someone came up beside her.

"Is this seat taken?"

Kagome looked up so fast, she thought she'd get whiplash. Standing in front of her, one hand in his pocket and the other indicated the empty bench beside her, was Inuyasha. He looked a little flushed, like he'd run from the street into the station in an attempt to find her, but was now playing it casual.

She felt herself go pale, but then shook her head. He settled beside her. "Thanks."

"What are you doing here?" Kagome felt herself saying.

"I needed to talk to you before you disappeared without a trace," he said calmly. It sounded as if he was exerting a good deal of control.

Suddenly Kagome understood. "They told you, didn't they?"

"It is true?" he countered. He was looking at his feet, not trusting himself to look her in the face.

Kagome felt her eyes water as she looked over at him, studying his profile and not believing her senses, not believing that he was really there. "Yes," was all she could muster, and it came out as a whisper.

That was when he looked up at her. The degree of hurt in his gold eyes made her eyes overflow and her heart break into a thousand pieces. "How could you not tell me?"

"I wanted to," Kagome said at once. Honestly, from her heart. "But it was so hard to leave the first time… how hard would it have been if you had known about the baby? I never would have had the strength."

"Did you have to leave?" he asked, almost angrily. "You could have stayed. I would have taken care of you."

"I know," Kagome said sadly. "But it was all a lie."

He looked at her steadily, intensely. His eyes burned into her and made Kagome shiver in response. "It wasn't a lie to me."

"You would have been ruined by me," she said in response, trying to make him understand.

"Answer something for me," he said quietly, looking away from her face.

"Anything," Kagome breathed, sincerely. This was so hard she thought she'd break into a thousand pieces.

"Do you love me?" he asked. "Or was it a lie?"

Kagome's first thought was to lie. To tell him no so that he would leave and she could disappear with their child and let him live the kind of life he deserved. That was the real reason for her leaving, to save him the humiliation of being linked to her. She knew that embarrassment would eventually lead to resentment, and that would kill her.

But as she steadily looked at him, the lie on her tongue withered and died. There was no way her heart would let her tell such a horrendous lie. "It wasn't a lie," she said so quietly he could barely hear her. "I loved you then, and I love you now."

He looked at her then, piercing her with a golden gaze. Kagome felt the tears pour down her cheeks, but she made no move to wipe them away. She sat there, totally exposed and feeling freer than she ever had in her life. Even if he rejected her now, left her there shattered and heart broken, she would survive. She wouldn't hide away like she had after the others. Inuyasha had given her something that neither Hojo nor Kouga had ever given her before. He gave her hope, and he gave her a child to love.

Finally, he nodded and got to his feet. For a moment, Kagome feared that he was simply going to walk away, but then he reached down and grabbed her hands. He tugged her to her feet just before he pulled her to him and covered her mouth with his own.

Kagome was so shocked she didn't know what to do but let him kiss her. Her body moved on autopilot, opening her mouth and snaking her arms around his neck. They stood there, in the center of the train station for what seemed like hours but was only a matter of seconds. When he pulled back, Kagome was thoroughly shaken.

"You're not leaving," he said fervently.

"I don't want to leave," Kagome admitted.

He smiled and she smiled back. "You'll come home with me?"

"Are you officially asking me back?"

Inuyasha was quiet for a moment. "I'll let you know in the morning," he said with a nod. Taking her hand, he led her back outside into the streets of New York.

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"For the first time in her life, the man she loved came back for her. And they lived happily ever after." Kagome finished reading the manuscript, placing the final page on the top of the pile. She smiled to herself, picking it up and gently taping it on the table so all the pages fell in order. Twisting it around, she looked over the title page.

_Breaking the Rules_ was emblazoned across the center of the page, and just beneath it read: A novel by Kagome Saishi. She sighed happily, looking at her work. Her first complete novel. Something dreams were made of.

She placed her left hand over her stomach, which had grown in considerable size over the last seven months. The gold band on her finger glittered brightly as it caught the light from the nearby lamp. "Inuyasha, come here," she called.

Her husband, drying his hands on a dishtowel, walked into what used to be his study. "What?" he asked.

"I finished it," she said with a proud smile, handing him the stack of papers.

"Breaking the Rules, huh? Catchy title for a trashy romance."

Kagome laughed, tossing a nearby pen at his head. "One of many, if you play your cards right."

Inuyasha smiled at her before slipping the book into an envelope. "I'll leave it out in the living room for when Kagura comes by later."

"I don't think she'll have time to come this afternoon," Kagome said with a grin. She gripped the side of the desk to help her keep her balance when she got to her feet. "You know that she's swamped with all that business regarding the merger of the magazines, and all the politics with her new publishing company, and wedding plans to top it off."

"True," Inuyasha admitted. "I still find it hard to believe that my brother is getting married."

"I still find it hard to believe that _we're_ married," she admitted.

"Oh well," he said with a grin. "We'll just have to try and con Miroku and Sango to tie the knot next."

"Don't hold your breath on that one," Kagome laughed. "Those two are happy living in sin."

He laughed. "Figures."

"They'll come around, eventually," she told him with a smile.

"Maybe," he agreed. "I'll still leave this in the living room, just in case she needs somewhere to hide and shows up."

"I married a genius," Kagome laughed.

"Well, that's true," Inuyasha said as he leaned down and kissed his wife gently before pulling back. "Come on, I made your favorite for dinner."

"You cooked it?" She asked, impressed. "And it didn't burn? It's a miracle."

"Haha," he laughed sarcastically, but helped her to the kitchen anyway.

Sometimes they were so disgustingly happy, Kagome was sure that it was just another dream. But it was real, as close to a happily ever after two people in the real world could ever get. She thanked her lucky stars every day, for finally letting her get one right. Mostly she thanked her father, whom she had no doubt was still watching over her.

Inuyasha thanked Atlantic City, for allowing drunken people to get married. He also thanked alcohol, without which he would have never found the woman of his dreams.

Neither of them were really sure what they would say to their son when he was old enough to ask how they met, but they figured they'd jump off that bridge when they got there. They got lucky; that was all. After all, rules were made to be broken.

The End

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed this story-- and even those who read but didn't review. This story was a labor of love and I am ecstatic that so many people gave such a great response to it. Please remember to check out my other fics-- and keep an eye out for my upcoming stories as well. Another thanks to all my readers, because you make writing worthwhile.

Sincerely Yours,

Jasmine AKA Jazz the Wolf Demon


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